From the Sky To the Leaves
by Azurebubble
Summary: She was confused, she didn't know where she was, but one thing is for sure. She's no longer in her world and universe without her family or anyone else. Not to mention she had been deaged and shrunk. However, she made a resolution and would find her way back home no matter what. This is a Revamp of From Vongola to Leaf which is incomplete .
1. Chapter 1

**M:Hey guys, as you can see I've revamped From Vongola to Leaves, and I had been thinking of doing this since a) I was starting to not know on how about furthering the story(Should have made a written outline instead of how I had it mapped in my mind. Lesson learned) b) there were some things in the first one I wanted to redo or go further into but felt it was already late for that but it's never too late really and c) if I kept on writing the original as it was I would feel like I was giving you guys something incomplete and kinda strained. So yeah...**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto**

 **Should Have Been More Careful**

 **Bang! Bang! Bang!**

The sounds of gunshots filled the air, the enemy famiglia shooting it out with the members at the present members of the Vongola Famiglia. Today was the Vongola Decimo's birthday, and a celebration was being held at a private home, owned by the Vongola, for only the close friends and comrades of the Decimo were supposed to be in attendance. Supposed is the keyword here.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! How the hell did they get in?! Where's the security!" A young brown haired woman, of barely twenty yelled as she dodged another barrage of bullets. "God, damn it! Do they not realize what they've done! Oh, that's it!" She yelled as she barely dodged another bullet by a few millimeters. Her dress sleeve however didn't. "That was made by Haru-chan! Oh, god she's going to be so upset!" She muttered as she finally saw an opening and quickly summoned her lightning flames. The soft crackling of lightning was heard as she opened her two silver semi-automatic handguns. A gift handed to her by Tsuna when she had officially joined the Vongola. Without hesitation she retaliated, never letting up as each of the enemies shot fell with loud thumps.

She didn't stop to observe however if they were dead or not. She had another objective, find Tsuna and guarantee his safety. Thankfully all the non-combative guests had been evacuated as soon as they could. "Tch!"

"VOOOI!" A loud voice echoed around as a long silver haired man appeared slicing enemies with his hand sword. "Why the fuck are you here you piece of trash?" The man yelled angrily as he continued to slice oncoming enemies.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing?! I'm killing these motherfuckers as best as I can Squalo!" She yelled back as she jumped backwards in time to dodge an incoming rain of bullets. "Where the hell do they keep on coming from?!" She yelled in frustration, at this rate she won't find Tsuna.

"Well you're doing a piss poor job of It trash!"

"It's not as if I'm not trying!"

She glared, gritting her teeth in frustration as she took down five of the oncoming enemies and ducked down as Squalo cut down the rest one swipe. "Oi! You could have fucking sliced my head off!" She yelled in annoyance, not looking away from the targets about ten feet away. They had stopped momentarily by the display Squalo had made of their comrades.

She ignored the sight near her of the bloody and mutilated bodies, as she let a rain of lightning bullets towards them effectively killing the last few remaining off, for the moment. She desperately wanted to rub her forehead in frustration but she didn't have the time for that. Without letting her guard down as she scanned her surroundings while moving forward, she asked. "Did you see Tsuna anywhere by any chance?"

Squalo who was accompanying her for who knows what reason, merely grunted and gave her a deadpan stare. "Why the hell would I know where that damn pipsqueak is?"

She gave him a momentary droll stare as she picked up the sounds of fighting and approaching footsteps before turning back. "Well seeing as where I came from he wasn't there, it doesn't hurt to ask you, who came from a different direction does it?"

"Tch! Fine! Last I saw he was near the entrance!" He yelled annoyed as he started hacking at the swarm of enemies that approached them. She smiled at his response and took down the other small fry along with him.

"Thank you!" She yelled above the loud sound of gunshots as she dodged the bullets and headed towards the entrance. She didn't fail to notice that Squalo wasn't following her as he diverged from her path. Not surprising, he wouldn't go about helping them directly, less they ruin their uncaring façade toward them. She smiled lightly at that, they had come a long way from what she had noticed, in relations with Tsuna and his guardians.

However, before he diverged from her she could hear what he wanted to say. "Voi! Scum tell that piece of trash we aren't helping because we want to! We just can't let the reputation of the Vongola get tarnished! So, tell the little boss of yours that the only one that can kill him is our boss!"

She rolled her eyes, a bit, as she dodged another wave of bullets by the skin of her teeth and fired back. _Pft. As if Xanxus will ever be boss. But it's nice to know they care._

As she neared the entrance, the sounds of fighting got louder, and lots of bodies were strewn along the path she followed. Frowning she pushed back any trivial thoughts that were forming in her mind and focused on the here and now. Reborn and Lal Mirch had ingrained in her to be cautious whenever there were the sounds of battle. She shivered slightly at the thought of their trainings. Picking up her pace she saw Tsuna in Hyper Dying Will mode battling against enemy leader.

She frowned as she could see that it wasn't an easy fight. Her browns furrowed as she saw both Gokudera and Yamamoto keeping at bay any of the subordinates from interfering in the battle. Thankfully there were few left standing alive, but more appeared to be coming forward. From her vantage point she shot the ones that appeared to be retreating. Soon all of them were laid down dead on the ground. The only enemy left around them was the one Tsuna was fighting, his strong figure never wavering, despite how painful those hits the enemy was laying on him must have hurt.

Her heart thumped as she observed the fight unravel, putting her weapons away, a mistake she would later regret. She then noticed that Gokudera and Yamamoto were also observing the fight with cool expressions on their faces. As she moved to join them she noticed movement from the corner of her eyes.

"Damn Vongola! All will go according to the Boss's plan and you shall die! This will be a bleak victory for the Vongola once you're gone!" He laughed darkly as he aimed a gun at Tsuna. Seeing this she quickly changed her course of direction and sprinted towards the man, grabbing a gun that lay on the floor without thought and slammed into him before he could fire. While Tsuna could undoubtedly dodge the attack, it would make the fight harder with the one he was fighting right now. Which by the looks of it was very intense, whoever that person was, they are very tough.

The man appeared surprised by her appearance and she grinned darkly at him. _Like hell I'll allow you to interfere._ She thought as she took advantage of his momentary surprise and aimed to shoot him straight in the heart. However, she failed to realize that he was already recovering his bearings and seeing no other option shot her, at the same time shot him, on her side causing her to miss and shoot him in the abdomen instead.

At the feeling of being shot she gasped as pain erupted on her side before it spread to her whole body. She curled in on herself grasping her side as she let out a blood curdling scream. She felt as if she was being stabbed by thousands of needles followed by an intense sensation of burning, and she tried. Oh, she tried to withstand the pain, but it was too much and she felt herself losing consciousness. As this was going on, she was engulfed in a blinding bright light.

* * *

As Tsuna laid the finishing blow on the man before him, his hyper intuition was going haywire, and he then heard a blood curdling scream. He glanced towards the direction of the scream and he noticed that Yume was curdling unto herself. Then he saw that she was being consumed by a bright light.

"NO! Yume!" He shouted in horror as she disappeared before his eyes, and his other guardians that were present also saw what was happening by the edge of the tree line. As he descended quickly to the place where she had disappeared from, Gokudera and Yamamoto hot on his trail. He noticed the semi-conscious man that was bleeding. His eyes heartened and he said through clenched teeth.

"Gokudera, I want you to make certain that this man gets healed." _And then make him talk._ Was left unspoken as Gokudera understood what he meant. Gokudera stared at the man before him in disgust. Gokudera and Yamamoto had no time to fully question what happened but whatever it was, it had to do with one of their own.

"Yamamoto, go find Hibari, I…I'll need to find the others and discuss with them…" Tsuna said, his fists tightened by his side, trying not to let the anguish of one of his dear family members disappearing before him.

"Hai, boss."

* * *

Yume groaned softly as she opened her eyes blearily, and stiffly sat up. She felt her whole-body ache and she rubbed her eyes to rid the drowsiness from her eyes as she began to stare at her surroundings blankly. 'What the?' She thought in surprise as she stiffened and her eyes widened in shock. 'I don't recognize this place! Did I get captured?' She began to panic before forcing herself to calm down. 'No, no. Remember calmly assess the situation, calmly asses.' She repeated as a cold shiver passed through her aching body. Oh god, would Reborn and Lal be putting her through the ringer when they found her.

She shuddered as she continued to assess her surrounding, checking to see if there was anything out of the ordinary that could alert her of any traps. 'Wait a minute…' She froze as a thought entered her mind. 'Why is everything far too big? This situation seems far too weird.' She rubbed her forehead to alleviate the forming headache despite her whole-body aching in protest of the action. She stopped as she noticed another odd thing. 'My hand, it's far too soft…' She turned to look at her hand blankly before throwing the white sheets off her body.

'No! No, no, no. This is not happening it has not happened! My body did not just shrink!' She screamed in a panic in her mind as she felt her body, noting the old-fashioned drab clothes she was sure she had never put on. 'On top of that, where are my boxes and rings! I can't have lost them! Fuck! Like this I'm surely to get killed by Reborn and them now.' Dread rose at the pit of her stomach as she grasped her head in frustration. 'I…I have to calm down. Calm. Down.'

As she was panicking and trying to calm herself down she failed to notice that a few pair of small eyes had widened and the sound of small feet had scurried off. She remained like this until she had semblance of calmness to her that she heard the heavy footsteps of someone approaching. This caused her to look towards the direction of the sound and gaze warily. 'Either they are a civilian or they are doing it on purpose.'

As the person entered her view she couldn't help but look on in surprise even though she was expecting it. 'Oh, my god, she's huge!'

 **M: So yeah, this is basically the beginning of the Revamp, obviously, there are and will be changes. Oh and I'm not removing the original, I'll keep it posted up.**

 **P.S. Thank you all!**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto

Ch. 2

A year has passed since Yume arrived at the Yūhi orphanage in Konohagakure, or simply put the Hidden Leaf Village. The head of the orphanage, had explained the circumstances on how she arrived at the orphanage. She had said a shinobi had brought her in the middle of the night during a heavy storm. She had been a mess, with her clothes being nothing but strewn fabric on the floor, leaving very little to cover her body. Not to mention her body had been littered with bruises and cuts, the only things that were left untouched were her boxes and rings. Her boxes had laid next to her while her rings had been clutched tightly in her fists. Of which she had been grateful that they were undamaged and that the shinobi had decided to also bring the boxes.

-Flashback-

The huge woman stood over her, gazing at her with a mixture of pity and resentment. Pity because she could only assume thing terrible had happened to her. Not only that but during the few days she's been unconscious there was no word about a missing child. Therefore, she could only assume her parents or guardian dead or abandoned her. However, the ladder was probably the correct answer since there had also been no word of any deaths in the village.

Despite, this she felt some resentment as well. Money was tight as it was, and the funding they received Bi-weekly could only extend for them to buy the necessities the children would need. Thankfully, she had quite a few volunteers to help her, regarding the many orphans and some of the older orphans also helped with what they could.

'Honestly, why couldn't that shinobi just take her to the hospital to be taken care of, we don't have the time to care for such a child.' As frustrating as it was, she knew it was probably do to the fact that many of the medical staff were swamped with taking care of more serious injuries. One of her volunteers had some knowledge about healing injuries and thankfully that had been enough to take care of the child. Still, with how she had been a hospital and more thorough examination would have been better. She continued to stare at the wide eyed, shocked child, as the child unconsciously backed away with obvious pain.

The woman sighed as she then spoke, "Hello child." She spoke softly as to not startle her further and her resentment lessened as she saw the child become warier and tense. The child's eyes held caution and suspicion. "I'm not here to harm you." There was no change in the child's expression.

She put on a kind smiled, "I am Tachibana Machiko, and I am the head of the Yūhi orphanage in Konohagure." The child frowned, confusion riddled her face, replacing most of the wariness and suspicion she held in her gaze. "Now little one, do you think you can speak?" The child hesitantly nodded. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

The last question caused the child to flinch, and she noticed how her hands clenched tightly to the sheets. She made a note to avoid digging for more information for now. "What is your name? Do you remember?"

"...I…Y-Yume..." She croaked out and Machiko sighed again. " You must be thirsty. Would you like some water?" This caused the wariness to return at full force causing her to wonder what this child could have gone through to act like this.

* * *

Yume watched the tired looking, grey haired, huge woman, with shock and apprehension, and by the heavens above she will deny fully that she backed away slightly as she approached the foot of the bed she was on. However, she got her emotions under control quickly as she gazed at the woman warily as she began to speak in a soft tone.

"Hello child. I'm not here to harm you."

'Uh, do you think I'm stupid or how many time I've had it drilled into me not to trust strangers by Reborn and Lal? Well mostly Lal, but I do not want them to ever find out I dropped my guard and got- actually you know what they're still going to fuckin torture me for doing just that.' She thought annoyed with herself as she kept that emotion in check and kept eyeing her in caution as the woman smiled kindly. Which was not entirely fake, but couldn't really be entirely sincere either.

"I am Tachibana Machiko, and I am the head of the Yūhi orphanage in Konohagure." This surprised her a bit due to the fact of how sincere it sounded. So, either she was good at lying unnoticeably or that was the truth. If it was then where exactly being Konohagure, and how did she get from here from the mansion. Did that mean something terrible happened Tsuna and everyone else and they were being kept separated? She squashed out the rising panic but her confusion still showed on her face with her small frown, along with the wariness and suspicion she held towards this Tachibana Machiko. "Now little one, do you think you can speak?"

'Should I answer or not? Then again, I could be able to coax some info out of her if I do so, especially if she is truly a regular civilian.' After a bit a while she gave a hesitant nod. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

'Erm, that's actually a good question before waking up here I remember getting that guy and then- Oh god! It hurt so much! It burned!' She shuddered as she clenched the sheets as she began recalling that sensation of becoming a human pincushion and what she could only imagine being burned alive felt like. As she kept recalling the sensation she dropped her guard, a fact that she would kick herself later, because that is something you just don't do no matter what. How many times had Lal had her go through training just to instill that into her.

Thankfully, Machiko changed the subject, allowing for her to break free from the memories of burning and quickly tossing that to the back of her mind, where she would try and repress it. She never wanted to recall such feelings again when she's at her most vulnerable. "What is your name? Do you remember?"

"...I" She tried to speak and mentally grimaced at the raspiness and high pitch quality of her voice. "Y-Yume…" She managed to speak, omitting any mention of a surname. She tensed again when Machiko asked her if she was thirsty and wanted some water.

'Is this some trick question? Dangling the offer of water to get more information? Or is it poisoned?' She continued gazing in suspicion before she sighed, in truth she could tell she was being overly paranoid right now and that the woman didn't mean any harm to her…for now as far as she could see. She slumped forward, giving a small nod and with that it brought back to awareness just how much her body ached.

"I see…" Machiko began softly. "Well I'll have someone bring you some water Yume-chan, and then you rest. I'll continue to ask you more later time." Yume gave a slight nod as she watched her leave without taking her eyes off her.

* * *

True to her words, someone else had brought water to her in a ceramic, worn out looking cup. She had slowly drunk the whole cup, and then laid it on the worn looking dresser beside the bed. She grimaced both at the protest her body made by stretching that much just to lay cup down and by how unnerving it was to see her tiny limbs.

She sighed mentally as she laid back down in the middle of the bed and before long she lost consciousness. Mostly due to how fatigued she felt, and the shock of being turned into a child.

* * *

It wasn't until a two days later when she Machiko visited her again. Thankfully, by this time her body didn't ache as much as it did, and she had gotten used to seeing the world much bigger than she remembered and her limbs much smaller compared to them. Although it still brought discomfort not really knowing where she was and how the situation was back home. Not to mention her rings and boxes, she didn't know where they were or even if they had appeared with her.

Worry, and dread filled her mind as they crossed her mind while she lay there. Waiting, to see if this was all a big ploy, to either lower her guard and gain information or ultimately kill her. Although just like that last time, she knew she was just being overly paranoid, and that was starting to look more unlikely as no one entered the room. At least, not until they brought her some food, water, or helped her use the toilet.

A bath, appeared to be unlikely, since she noticed that most of the children unless, overly dirty didn't take a bath at least once every three days. Which brought her into questioning about the living conditions here, if this place was remote or perhaps on the outskirts of a city. However, it was probably the former since she didn't hear the noises of any vehicles passing through. All in all, it didn't appear to be any different from any normal building, if not run down, with a whole lot of children to take care of.

It wouldn't be until a while later that she would come to find out exactly where she was and how far from home this place was.

Yume glanced towards the approaching Machiko, her gaze still wary, but not as much as before. The woman appears nice, if not tired and so did the other adults that came and passed by the door to the room she occupied. She noticed that the woman held a clipboard and a piece of charcoal in her hand, and she hid a frown as she kept her watchful gaze.

"Hello Yume-chan." Machiko greeted softly in not tired, with a bit of caution in her words. This caused Yume to narrow her eyes slightly, which went unnoticed by Machiko as she continued. "It's so good to see you're doing well. Also, today you're finally going to be allowed to get out of this room. Isn't it great?" She smiled happily at her and this caused Yume to blink in surprise.

'So, I can finally move around?! Finally! I need to look for my rings and boxes asap!' She couldn't keep the excitement from showing on her face which made Machiko smile more. "Of course, before that I need to finish asking you questions from the first time you woke up."

'Ah, right…well I suppose I can comply with giving some information…but it should be mostly vague.' Yume gave a nod, itching to get outside

"Good! Now, last time when you gave me your name, you didn't mention a surname. Do you know what it is? I think if we have one we may be able to find any links to your family." Machiko murmured the last bit to herself and Yume frowned as she gazed at her hands. 'Ah that...' She shook her head as she looked at Machiko sadly.

"I see…" Machiko sighed as she made a note on the paper. "So…no surname do you know if your parents or any guardians of yours are alive? Perhaps any relatives?" Yume shook her head as she spoke in a detached tone.

"No…my parents…and blood relatives are dead."

The older woman looked at the little girl before her with a resigned look, it wasn't that uncommon to expect such an answer nowadays. "I see…" Sounds filled the silence as she wrote a few other things down before she continued in a soft voice. "Then she proceeded to ask ordinary questions; what her age was, any allergies, where she came from and so on. Of these questions, she either gave a few honest answers, most were vague or lies. All the while, Yume could tell that this seemed routine to the older woman with how quickly she jotted down information and her tone took more of a practiced feel to it.

When she finished, she gave Yume a nod. "You're good to go now, but don't over exert yourself. We don't have that much time to be taking care of you again…. or the resources for all you kids." She muttered the last part a bit rescind as she began to take her leave.

'Finally! Now- '

"Oh, right I was forgetting this. But when you were brought along here, I was told these were near you." The older woman turned around as she took out her missing rings and boxes from a pocket in her skirt.

'My rings! 'Her eyes widened as she hastily got out of bed and headed towards her before stopping a bit away. 'Wait, could this be a trap? No, no. I'm just overthinking things but with this anyone that knows what they mean could find me if they've investigated in this…but then again…no. It's doubtful they could have considered this with the lack of advanced technology I've seen here.' She looked hesitantly at the objects in Machiko's hands and the older woman chuckled at the sudden lively and a bit stiff reactions of the little girl.

"It would appear you do recognize these objects. Please remember not to lose them because after this it's not my responsibility what happens to any of your personal belongings." She looked at Yume sternly as stated this. "After your called back for dinner and your finished one of the volunteers will show you where you will go and what chores your expected to do." She continued.

Yume nodded as she quickly grasped the boxes and rings in her hands, not entirely fitting in both of her hands. Thankfully, the second hand brown shorts she had been given were hole free and had pockets in where she could keep them. She smiled at the familiar texture of the objects and didn't notice the departure of the older woman.

'I'll never let you go again…never.' She thought to herself as she put them into her pocket reluctantly. She hated the fact that her hands were now too small to put on her rings. She would have to find a way home, one way or another.

'First things first…I'm going to have to get a layout of where I am and the possible routes I can take to get back.'

Oh, little did she know just how long or difficult that would become once she got a good grasp what her actual predicament was. It was far from just appearing in being transported to a random isolated location somewhere in her country.

* * *

'Oh, you have got to be kidding me.' Her eyebrow twitched as she gazed to what was the equivalent of Mount Rushmore, only where faces of U.S. presidents would have been there were faces she did not recognize. 'Ok. Either a) this place is very secluded where such a thing would be undiscovered, or b) I am very, very far away from home.' She frowned as option A was very doubtful because those carvings were very much in your face to be anywhere near inconspicuous. Not to mention it would have been discovered long ago and made a tourist attraction due to how it seemed very important to this village.

Also, this village is not really a small village as she had first thought. She had taken a lot of care to climb the tallest tree she could find near her vicinity and all she could see for miles on end were lots of buildings, and streets.

Option 2 however, was more probable, and she had a sneaking suspicion she would not like the answer she would find as to how far away she was from her home. Which really put her off guard, seeing as the language spoken was very much Japanese, so the question was. Where exactly was she.

She frowned and her face showed an expression that was very odd on a young child's face. She sighed as she gazed at the housetops and noticed quick blurs hopping frequently on top of them. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance. Along with being a child once more, all the training she had been thrown out the window and shredded into very tiny little pieces seeing as she hadn't changed back to her original age, and she noted just how tiny and frail she was.

She slumped as she leaned against the bark of the tree once carefully climbing down. 'I hope I can convince Verde to change me back to my original body state or I am going to have to go through a lot of hell training and growing up.'

She sighed as she gazed the other children playing around excitedly, enjoying their time while having no chores. She could even see some kids playing a version of tag she wasn't entirely familiar with and it reminded her of Lambo and the other children.

'I want to go home…' She closed her eyes as she pushed back the sadness trying to break through. 'No, now's not the time for this. I'm going to have to get more information before I start formulating my plan to get home. Finding a vehicle to sneak into is out of the question though, and there are no airplanes either… I'm going to have to ask an adult….and I'm going to have to act like a child more or less.'

She frowned some more but how exactly would she go about that naturally. Sure, she had been given lessons in how to play certain roles, to act like a normal citizen as possible in any situation but she had never even tried learning how to act like a child. Where was she even going to begin?

Acting like a cheerful, energetic child was out of the question because even if she tried she was sure it would only come out as unnatural and she couldn't even rely on facial control to hide emotions she felt all the time.

"I swear…whenever I get home I am going to beat the hell out the guy for doing this…no actually I'll kill him because this was aimed for Tsuna." She glared at the ground as itched tot her guns and do what she said at the very moment. However, if she would even get a chance to go at him with the other guardians having first dibs on him.

She was brought out of her musings as they were being called for dinner and she blinked in surprise. Time had passed by far too quickly than she had thought it would. As silently as she could she made her way towards the end of the line that had formed to get her dinner.

* * *

"Um…you know kid the younger ones are supposed to be at the front of the line not the back, right?" A dirty blonde haired girl of around twelve told her as she glanced Yume in amusement. Yume blushed in embarrassment that she did not know that, as she looked towards the line and saw just how noticeable that fact was.

The older girl laughed, not with any malicious intent but with genuine amusement. This helped calm Yume and felt a smile start to form on her face but quickly stamped it down as she took to observing the older girl cautiously. The older girl noticed and smirked. "You're a quiet one eh? You must be the new girl some of the other kids were talking about a few days ago. So, what's your name? Mines Izumi, I-zu-mi, got it?" The girl spoke cheerfully as they continued moving forward in the line.

"Um…mine's Yume..." She didn't speak that loudly, disliking the fact of how high pitched and childish it sounded when she spoke in a normal tone.

"Yume huh? No surname?" She shook her head.

"Eh, figures. Most kids here also don't have last names either. Well, except for most with shinobi parentage, they usually have a last name to them. Oh, and the clan kids too." Izumi stated matter-of-factly. "So how did you end up here anyways? Is it true that you were brought in by a shinobi? Was he cool?"

'Uh, hold up. Shinobi?' Yume looked at Izumi confused. "Um…I don't really know." Was what she said as she got a plate that was handed to her by one of the volunteers who looked at her in understanding and smiled at her kindly.

"Dear, next time you need to be in the front not the back okay?" Yume gave a nod towards the volunteer as she was served her portions as Izumi followed.

"You don't know? Do you have amnesia or something?" Izumi looked at her confused as she steered Yume towards the end of a long table. Yume noted this fact and was starting to think that the older child was taking her under wing so to speak.

"I…guess?" Was her response, as she couldn't really explain her explanation nor did she want to. She gave a small shrug as Izumi frowned.

"You are totally not cute you know." Yume gave a flat stare as she slowly ate her bland tasting food quietly and a bit clumsily. Yeah, her motor skills would need a lot of refining if she didn't want to clumsily walk into or break things.

She wondered just how long it would take for Tsuna and the others to find her. Of course, that doesn't mean she isn't going to try and find a way back to a more technologically advanced city to contact them. She blatantly ignored the small voice in her mind that such a thing is impossible.

Ah, ignorance is such a blissful thing.

* * *

The next day Yume woke up with a smiling face close to hers very early in the morning. It wasn't even sunrise she could guess from the lack of sun outside the window. Nor did she see any of the other children she roomed with stirring from their slumber. Yume gave the older girl a dry stare as she continued to smile at her silent question.

"You know you're actually quite adorable when asleep." The older girl poked her cheek as Yume sat up with a resigned look on her face. "Although, I didn't exactly expect you to wake up." The girl pouted as she began to pat her on her head.

Yume resigned herself to being treated as a little kid, since she was one but technically was an adult. "You should go back to sleep now Yume-chan." Izumi said as she stopped patting her head and Yume gave her a blank stare as if to say 'Yeah-no-I-am-wide-awake-now-and-it's-your-fault.

"Heh. Well if you're up then you can help me with something." Yume gave her a puzzled look as the older girl got up and helped her get dressed without her permission. Yume let out a startled yelp as that happened and with a red face she followed the older girl outside as she finished. All the while the older girl ignored the ineffective glare from Yume, because really what glare from a three to four-year-old looked menacing.

Well, excluding Reborn and the other arcobaleno, they were an entirely different story. She gave an involuntary shiver as she remembered those looks that ended up giving her nightmares the first time she had been on the receiving end of them.

"Ok. Here we are!" Izumi exclaimed as they stopped outside the orphanage onto the play area. Yume gave the older girl a puzzled look, as she gave the surrounding area a cursory glancing. There was nothing here so why would she want her to be here. She looked at the girl as she got onto a position ready to do push-ups. "Ok. Yume-chan I want you to get on my back and count okay?"

Yume hesitated on following the request but ultimately complied after receiving a pleading look from Izumi. That wasn't the only reason however. 'Maybe I can get some information out of her but first…'

Yume quietly counted as the girl began to do push-ups. Sometime in she finally began her questioning. "Izumi-san…"

"Hey, its fine to call me Izumi-neechan you know?"

Yume ignored that as she continued. "Why are you doing this? What's it for?" Her tone was genuinely curious if not soft as she looked upon the exerted face of Izumi.

"Ah, that's easy! This is to get stronger so I don't get beat in the academy!" She said happily as she continued to push herself more.

"Why?"

"Eh? Well every shinobi wants to be strong, but I want to be even stronger than the other Kunoichi in my class! Especially, with the whole war going on."

'War?' Yume thought in surprise as she looked at the older girl in shock. 'Wait! Are they…does that mean they have child soldiers going around here basically?!' She had already surmised after that they were they were prepped into being ninjas after her first sentence but war? This brought a whole new light onto things.

Sure, the same can be said about certain famiglias that raised and prepped the children to kill at an early age, but with Tsuna leading the Vongola he had put a formal stop to such practices occurring with Vongola and its allies.

"Oh…" Was what she said as she continued observing the older girl before continued asking. "War with who?"

"Um, I'm not entirely sure, but don' worry I'm going to work hard to keep everyone safe!" Izumi said determinedly as she continued to push herself forward despite looking exhausted. It had already been about fifteen minutes since she began after all.

"I see-oof!" Yume let out a startled noise as Izumi flopped onto the ground unexpectedly. Izumi giggled as she lay on the ground, not minding the dirt while Yume recovered from her surprise and got off Izumi.

"So how many was it?"

"About 212…I think."

"You think? Were you even counting?"

"Yes."

"Well…fine. I guess that helped, and now onto the next thing. Help me count again, oh and you're going to have to help me…"

Yume felt her head hurt after counting far too much and observing the type of training the girl did, which were some katas, running, stretching, and a few other things that she wanted to practice on. It didn't help that her attention span had taken to being distracted by other things and it took a lot of effort to remain focused.

By the time, Izumi was finished the sun was rising, and the girl began to rush on getting cleaned a bit and grabbing her food. Yume merely followed and mulled over things that she had learned from asking Izumi questions and getting more information.

For one, they were in the land of Fire, that there were other countries that followed a similar namesake such as the land of wind, they were in a war, this was a ninja village out of many, and why living conditions were as they were. Well the last one was more an inference than anything, given that provisions would be used more towards the war than its own citizens.

Which again brought up the question of where exactly was she and how could such events not been given to the Vongola. All possible conflicts that occur around the world were documented, and reported so that they could be well informed about areas that they should avoid or be careful of no matter where they went. Not to mention, Reborn would have scouted and reported if these ninja villages were a threat to the mafia.

A sickening feeling began to form at the pit of her stomach which only worsened when she was taken along with other kids after breakfast for a short lesson on writing and then moved on to a brief overview of the countries that bordered the land of fire and at that moment she felt her heart drop.

She did not recognize any of those maps, any of those landmarks nor any of the places mentioned on those maps. Her mind blanked out as all that the information that was being given went in through one year and out through the other. It wasn't until she realized that she was outside and out of the sight of the orphanage volunteers that she was brought back to her senses and she began to panic.

'No. No, no, no, no!' She thought in disbelief, she hadn't been transported to an isolated region. No, it was far worse than being countless miles away from her family. She realized she was in a whole other dimension entirely. She felt herself start to cry as despair encompassed her at that fact. How was she going to get back to her home, with her family, to where she belonged? She felt her flames start to go haywire as well as another foreign energy in her body.

Caught up in her own grief, she failed to notice that another person appeared close to where she was. It was one of the volunteers who had some training in the shinobi arts, and had sensed a small chakra flair in distress. When the volunteer went to look, she noticed that the new orphan they had received was the one who let it out.

Pity, filled the eyes of the volunteer as she gently picked up the startled young girl who began to cry harder as she did so. She had read the report about the child as had the other volunteers who had the time to do so. She had been found injured and possibly abandoned, who knows what had happened. She had noticed in passing that the child seemed fine, if not quite and very reserved, but she supposed that could have been because of shock. It probably wasn't until now that the whole situation hit her that it overwhelmed her.

Sighing, the volunteer soothingly rubbed her back, as she made her way back towards the orphanage. She'd need to let Machiko and someone else know to cover her shift for now. It was unlikely Yume would calm down anytime soon, and she would need attention.

* * *

Yume kept a blank face as the older girl gave her a frustrated glance. Honestly, Izumi did not know what had happened to the girl that would bring about this drastic change from how she had been a few days ago.

She had even gone to their caretakers with in worry but they had all said that it would pass while avoiding looking at her. It was as if they were keeping something secret that they didn't want to let her know. Izumi pursed her lips as she kept her gaze at the lifelessness the younger girl excluded. This was a big puzzle she could not figure out. Before she had left the girl was fine, if not tense, but when she had returned it appeared as if her soul left her body.

Her movements were more mechanical, and she hardly ate, or spoke as the days passed. It was clear to Izumi that this would not just pass. If this continued it was clear the girl would waste away and not live to see the next new moon, or whatever fancy wording those from higher backgrounds would use.

'Ok. Food didn't work, prodding her didn't work either, so what do I do? Have her join me in my training? Nah. That wouldn't work, plus she wouldn't last long either so…oh! Maybe a present or- '

"Izumi-chan shouldn't you be at the academy by now." She saw the headmistress of the orphanage look at her disapprovingly. Izumi knew she disliked allowing the children they took in going off to the academy and in her words "becoming cannon fodder". However, she usually kept her mouth shut as she watched each one join the academy and then becoming genin, never to return.

"Ah. Yeah, but…" Izumi bit her bottom lip as she glanced back at the motionless girl gazing outside without even seeing anything. Machiko raised her eyebrow before she looked towards one of their newer charges and she held back a small gasp.

She had heard from other volunteers that she had gone into shock, but were certain that it would pass in due time. She hadn't had the time to confirm this but she could tell it was more than just shock. It was as if the girl had lost her will to live. Sadness filled her gaze, as she recalled such an expression gracing many faces with the loss of loved ones.

Machiko pinched the bridge of her nose. However, such a thing was not good and was very eerie being on the face of a little girl. Gently, she approached the little girl as she turned Yume's face to her. "Yume-chan." She began and then pinched her cheeks hard causing Yume's face to contort in discomfort.

"Yume-chan, snap out of it. What happened, happened, nothing can be done now. You must move on, and whether you understand what I'm saying or not I will make you snap out of this. You have two perfectly good feet, so use them to stand up!" She said in a commanding tone. "If you don't stop sulking, and continue acting like this I will take more drastic measures, and I'll have you force fed if need be." There was a long silence before something flickered in Yume's eyes as the lifeless look in her eyes was replaced by determination.

This caught her a bit off guard but smiled softly as the little girl seemed to understand that she could not remain like this. Machiko nodded as she let go of the girl's cheeks before turning to the wide-eyed Izumi.

"Now don't just stand there get to the academy. You're late enough as it is." Izumi broke out of her stupor and nodded as she bolted. Machiko chuckled at the girl's antics before nodding towards Yume. "And you." The little girl turned her gaze towards her and for once she noted that her eyes held far too much intelligence to be that of a normal three-year-old. However, she pushed that to the back of her head, thinking it only a trick of the light. "You will be taken back to the dining area and eat, no matter how cold the food is. We don't have enough to go about wasting it understood?" Again, she ignored just how unnerving the action was as if the child completely understood everything she meant. She then walked out, going back to resume her duties. Never once noticing how the gaze of the little girl turned pensive in thought before schooling it into a look a normal three-year-old would have. Wide eyed, and innocent, if only slightly marred with a wobbly uncomfortable smile.

-Flashback End-

* * *

After the older woman had brought her out of her despair, she had made a resolution of finding a way back home. No matter the cost, she would get back and she felt stupid for not realizing that her family would bring her back one way or another. In turn, she should also do the same, and try to figure a way out however to do so would be tricky. For one, since this was a ninja village and a time of war this meant that the shinobi around here would be on high alert considering any suspicious activity. She didn't doubt they would eliminate her if they thought she was an enemy.

As a result, she had taken to observing the actions of regular children and trying to replicate it herself until it became natural. Thankfully, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, her mind and body seemed to take on certain aspects that a normal three-year-old would. However, that is not to say it was easy, playing around with the other children made her feel uncomfortable at times since she would prefer to watch them play than join or practice her hand writing in the small sand box whenever she had the chance.

She would refine her motor skills to a T, and she had an idea of how to get stronger without being looked at suspiciously as she grew older. That was to obviously become a shinobi or kunoichi as they put it like Izumi. Speaking of Izumi, Yume hadn't seen her in quite a while after she had become genin. The girl had taken a shine to her and Yume would admit she did enjoy the company of her despite using her as a cover in a way.

Izumi had allowed her to start training alongside with her, but Yume only did Yoga and a few pushups while the rest of the time helped Izumi in her own training. Yume made note of what exactly Izumi did and she was happy that it wasn't the hell training she had gotten from Lal and Reborn.

She and Tsuna would swear on the heavens above that they were demons sent from hell to earth. Although, she would admit that Tsuna was speaking only about Reborn but she would argue that Lal could be just as bad as him. She gazed at the sky longingly as she recalled her memories of her family. The laughter, the fighting, and all the chaos that ensued when they were all together. A fond smile formed on her lips, as she felt a cool breeze pass by as it ruffled the leaves from the tree she was under.

She sighed as she felt her flames thrumming to harmonize with the others, but there were none. Her eyes darted towards the large monument of faces that had now become familiar to her. Yes, in order to find her way back, she would use any means to go home, no matter the cost, save for the fact of killing or involving anyone that was not involved in this situation.

She frowned. If things went awry she would undoubtedly be killed or left unable to find a way home. 'There is a possibility that there is something in those shinobi art and secrets that could help me find a way back.' She thought as she recalled Izumi performing jutsus using energy she called chakra, which she surmised was the energy she had started to sense from other people.

'But getting my hands on that information is difficult.' She began to hum as she had taken into account from the shinobi she had begun able to observe and they had quickly caught onto the fact that she was watching them. Nothing a wide eyed, admiring look didn't solve as most children obviously wanted to become shinobi. Some of them gave her a scowl, others a small smile, but most just went back to ignoring her. 'Tch. They're paranoid as hell, and no doubt keep a close lid on their secrets.'

She was brought out of her musings as she felt an increasingly familiar chakra signature approaching her. 'Ah, that should be Izumi…I think.' She blinked in surprise, having not expected her to return, at least not for a while as most older children that had become genin moved out and most did not come back until a few months later if at all.

Sure enough, the older girl appeared in front of her holding a big smile on her face as she encompassed her in an unwelcome hug. Yume made a face as she struggled out of Izumi's hold. "Yume-chan! I'm back! Did you miss me?"

Yume gave her a dry look instead of responding, mostly because she disliked speaking up with her high pitched childish voice so she avoided talking if she could help it. Izumi giggled at her as she set her down. "I thought you wouldn't be back for a long while."

"Eh. Well I had some spare down time ya know?" Izumi stated while patting her on the head. "I'll end up going back soon though." She smiled lightly as Yume knew the gaze that the older girl held in her deep brown eyes and understood. Izumi had her first kill, or maybe even more than just one.

Deciding not to prod Yume nodded. "Okay."

"Mhm…So how have you been? I've heard that you've been doing fine with the rest of the kids, but you're still hm…how to say it." Izumi gave her a cheeky grin. "A stick in the mud."

Yume gave a shrug not rising to the bait as Izumi pouted. "Tsk. Still haven't gotten any cuter have you." Yume ignored that statement as she gazed back at the sky. "I'm going to join the academy." That caused Izumi to pause and her frown turned serious for a while before shifting it into a smile.

"Well obviously, but that's not going to be for another few years you know."

"No. I'm going to start next semester…if I pass the entrance exams." Of which, she had no doubt she would. Izumi gave a chuckle.

"Of course, you will, but aren't you just too young for that? Things at the academy are very hard you know, not something a little kid like you can handle."

Yume huffed. "I'm not little, and I can handle things."

"Uhhuh, suure."

"…I'm being serious you know. I just need Machiko-san to sign the papers, and I'm all set to take the entrance exams next week."

Izumi looked at the girl incredulously before snorting. "You know, she won't allow you to."

'So you think, but I have my ways.' Yume thought as the older girl looked at her pensively. "You're honest to kami-sama determined to do this aren't you." Yume nodded, as the older girl sighed.

"…I don't think you should do this…but to is going to change your mind."

"…"

"…Fine, if you're doing this, just make sure to not hurt yourself." There was concern laced in the older girl's voice and Yume couldn't help but look at her fondly.

"I will." They remained in silence while gazing at the clouds passing by and Yume couldn't help but feel the stab of longing hitting her as it usually did. 'Guys, I'm going to do my best to get stronger to get home faster…I'll do my part too, so…please be don't worry.'

 **M:So yeah, here's the second chapter, and admittedly it's waaay longer than the previous chapter 2, and well new character? Honestly she came up as an idea as I was writing and well it fit I guess. Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed!**

 **P.S. I'll work on the other chapters soon but since tomorrow I'm going to be under a minor surgery and Idk if I'll be able to actually work well if I'm still feeling the effects of sedatives. That and my finals are drawing ever so much near so most of my attention will be on that too.**

 **Anyway, till next time! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Naruto

Ch. 3

"No."

"I want to join the academy." Yume stated as she stared directly into Machiko's eyes. The older woman sighed as she rubbed her forehead. Yume had been telling her repeatedly the past few days while holding a form in her hand. Machiko knew exactly what she was implying and she did not like it one bit.

"No, Yume-chan I've told you before. You're too young to join, you should be playing or focusing on more fun things like the others." Machiko replied hoping that she would just drop the subject and accept it as it was.

"I want to join! I checked and there isn't an age limit of when one can join, so I can join now if I want to." Yume left out how the secretary who handed her the papers, probably thought she was getting it for an older sibling or for an adult who sent her on an errand. 'Plus, this is my last chance of joining this semester. Today's the day of the exam.'

Yume gripped the papers tightly, causing them to crumple slightly as she kept a determined gaze at Machiko. This was probably the safest way for her to take to get home. Sure, she could run away and train in secret but she didn't know what the chances were of surviving long enough to find a place safe enough to do so. Nor did she think at her current, or rather lack of, strength, could she protect herself from any dangers that could arise.

She had to get stronger, and the earlier she started in the academy the better. From what she was aware of there were six years in total, and with each grade the rise in difficulty increased. Of course, that is how it usually was, but with the war it seemed to have been lessened. Not only that but clan kids were accepted automatically, and civilians just like orphans were required a guardian's signature to be accepted. The only difference was that orphans needed to take an extra measure of joining, and that was to take an entrance exam.

Clearly, the village did not want to go about wasting resources on assets that would not benefit them now. And judging by the expression on Machiko's face she was aware to a greater extent than she was, what would happen if she joined. It did not matter though, it wouldn't change her mind. Her grip on the papers tightened more, for her family she would get back. She had duties to uphold, and the more time she spent here the more it would stockpile up.

"Yume-chan. No." She stated firmly as she looked at some of the older kids that had walked into the room with papers in their hands. These kids were asking her at the last moment to sign their forms while the other children had asked her a few days back. She sighed as she took their papers and signed them, as those kids smiled brightly. "You should wait until you're older, just like them." She stated just as she finished handing back the form to the last kid as they ran out.

"But I can do this!" This startled Machiko as she had heard Yume exclaim loudly, a seriousness and desperation seeping into her voice. Gazing at the young girl she finally gave a rescinded sigh. "If I sign…and when you fail, you will not join the academy until you are seven. That is my only condition." She stated reluctantly.

"Okay." Yume agreed but she had no intentions to fail. As Machiko took her paper and signed it she could see the bright expression on the little girl's face. She couldn't help but give her a soft smile in return for this was the first time since she had arrived that such an expression lit her face. As she handed the papers back she schooled her face back into a strict one.

"Now if you don't want to be late, you'd better hurry." Yume nodded as she hurried after the older kids that had left some time ago. She doubted she'd catch up to them, but she already knew her way there. She just needed to make sure she arrived on time, and judging by the placement of the sun she would barely make it.

True to her prediction she had barely made it as she handed her signed form to the test proctor who was looking at her dubiously. He turned to gaze at his fellow proctor who had a confused look on his face as he returned to stare at the four, or was it five, year old child. The child was small, with baggy earth colored shirt and shorts, brown hair that just reached her shoulders but what was more startling was the determined look those light brown eyes held as if daring him to send her back. "Err…kid. This isn't a joke you know." The proctor holding her papers stated as she nodded in ascent to that statement. "I know."

"Then, why don't you run along home then? I'm sure your family is looking for you kid." Yume huffed in her head annoyed, but she honestly expected reactions like this. She ignored the snickers she was getting from some of the older kids.

"My name's Yume, not kid, and I came here to take the exam." She stated seriously, and the test proctor sighed at what he thought was a kid pretending to be all adult like as she glared at him. Honestly, he didn't have the time to argue with a kid that probably didn't even understand what she was getting into.

Without saying a word, he ended up giving her the exam sheet, and a thick pencil with no eraser, while his partner looked at him with a raised eyebrow in amusement. He held back the urge to roll his eyes as he observed the child make her way to a seat in the back. Her head was raised high, as she ignored the quiet taunts aimed at her by the other kids. She was very odd for a child her age, but it reminded him of a classmate he once had. Very aloof, solitary, independent, and intelligent.

He narrowed his eyes slightly before clearing his throat. "All right, settle down children. As you all know, this is a test, so no cheating, talking, and making any loud noises." He stared at the jittery children as they stared at him nervously. "With that out of the way you have until noon, which is about an hour and a half, to finish this test. You may begin." He sighed as the kids turned to their page quickly.

The children weren't admitted based on their scores but their responses to three certain questions. Although, the scores did allow them to get a grasp of where the strengths of the students may lay so far and where they might be placed in the beginning classes. After the first year, the kids either continued their studies or were dropped from the Academy if it was apparent they were not ready or the shinobi path wasn't for them.

Yume stared at the questions on the out hand sheet and felt that if she were a character in a manga she'd be sweatdropping now. 'Are these questions even something normal kids would know?' Sure, most of them were basic and were phrased in basic situations a ninja would encounter but the other few. 'I don't think normal kids at this point in time will get square roots, and how to calculate velocity either. Heck calculating the projector of a kunai either? Tsk. We're not geniuses here you know.' She pursed her lips. 'Better not answer these then, I need to advance quickly but I don't want to draw too much attention to myself at the beginning. First, I'm going to have to get an understanding of all this material properly, and not send myself off to battle too early.' She may be older mentally and had experience fighting but her body now hasn't.

As she left those advance questions blank she continued answering the basic math questions, and simple literature portion of the test. Of which asked simple questions of who, what, and where places were in Konoha, and in the writing portion questions of why they wanted to be a ninja and what was the village to them.

On this part Yume paused as she gazed at the questions blankly. Honestly, she couldn't very well reply in truth as to why she wanted to be a ninja nor could she give an honest reply of how she felt about this village. It was foreign to her, and quite frankly it wasn't home. 'Home...' Melancholy filled her as she thought about Namimori and the Vongola. She then shook her head a little, right now she could not dwell on that, she already did it enough whenever she was alone. 'Okay…so clearly this is probably not that important to answer but then again…could it be its subtly asking for the loyalty of the kids?'

'Well…when in doubt go with the least suspicious options I suppose.' She thought as she wrote down that she wanted to be a shinobi to protect her loved ones at the orphanage like Izumi, and that Konoha was the best and it was her home to protect. Utter lies, well mostly since she would like to help the orphanage a bit but it's not as if it was her true goal.

Just as she finished writing the last word the proctor cleared his throat once more. "You all may stop, put the pencils down." Everyone followed instructions, and waited for further instruction. She observed how fidgety the other students were and the nervous energy in the air. "You all can go outside to play, but do not leave the academy grounds yet. At around two, you all will be told who passed and failed, so until then just wait. You are dismissed." Countless of children got up excitedly and bounded up outside while talking with friends. Yume was one of the few that didn't head out the door in a run and as she stepped outside she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable and out of place.

A feeling that hadn't crept up on her in a long time, she looked for a spot under a tree far away from the energetic children running around playing. She soon spotted one and made her way quickly ignoring the jeers some of the kids made as she passed but thankfully they seemed more occupied with their games or conversations to bother with her when she was out of their range.

Sitting down under a large tree, she wrapped her arms around her knees as she laid her chin ontop of her knee caps. 'Ah…I wonder how the kids back home are doing. Surely Lambo-kun isn't causing too much trouble for everyone when they're all too busy to play with him. Ah, but I-pin and Fuuta are probably handling things though, so no worries I suppose.' She observed the kids running around and having an enjoyable time. 'How I wish…'

"Ugh! Remind me again why they put us in charge of grading the papers Rei." The test proctor that had addressed Yume earlier turned to look at his slumped over friend in exasperation. "I've told you many times. It's because we were barely promoted, and they needed someone to fill these spots."

"I know but c'mon Rei! This is boring! I thought we would be doing more exciting things!" His friend whined as he pouted dramatically. Rei rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well we don't always get what we want now stop complaining and finish up." He ignored his friend's grumbling as he boredly returned to grading.

"Hm…say Rei, what did you think of that little kid, uh, Yume was it?"

"What about her?"

"Well doesn't she remind you of that one guy uh…what was his name again?"

"She reminds me of someone but really, you can't expect me to remember that person's name, do you?" Rei gave Kenji a dry stare as Kenji rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever, forget his name but do you think she could be…you know…one of 'those kids'?"

Rei sighed as he paused from doing his work as he leveled his dark-haired friend a dry stare. "No Kenji, I don't know what one of 'those kids' mean. You have to clarify."

"Aww, man you know what I mean."

Rei sighed as he resumed his work. "Whether she is or isn't a prodigy we really can't determine it, and judging by the lack of response she gave some advanced questions, I doubt it. Could she be a bit more adept and intelligent than the other kids, more than likely but not a prodigy."

"Hm…if you say so, still we're going to mark her on the list?"

"Yes, she passed the entrance requirements, whether she lasts is another matter. Now get back to work and stop procrastinating."

"Ugh, fine." He then muttered. "I hate you."

"I heard that."

"Good!"

She didn't know how long she just kept on watching but far too quickly they were being called back. She didn't say anything as they were called in one by one. When it was finally her turn she couldn't help but feel her stomach knot, a feeling of uncertainty passed her as she approached the test proctors along with another shinobi dressed in the same green flack jacket as them.

She sensed that this was a trend among many of the ninja of this village and something she should take note on if she just wants to fit in and not stand out any more than what she will. After all, she was aiming to pass this academy as quickly as possible. Of course, she still needed to get a better understanding of the structure and rules they have. Knowledge is key, and hopefully she doesn't miss anything important in her haste of getting through this as quickly as possible.

She was brought back from her thoughts as she stood straight and stared at the men with a determined gaze. The three didn't even blink as she was handed a ticket as one of the test proctors began to explain in a tone that suggested he has had to do this multiple times already.

"This is an admissions ticket, it will allow you to get the required supplies for the academy year. The shops listed on the back are the only ones you can purchase said needed items. Just go to the counters and they will give you what you need. Do note that if you lose this ticket you will not get another one till next year. After the year is done you need to give the ticket back as we give you a new one. Understood?"

She nodded as she gripped the ticket tightly and smiled to herself widely. This was one step closer to getting home. She blinked as one of the test proctors cleared his throat. She looked back up. "You can go now kid. I'm sure your parents will want to know." The other chunin that wasn't either test proctor said as she nodded and she dashed out of there as if she were being chased by hell hounds.

It wasn't that she was afraid or nervous, it was just she couldn't help but feel a burst of exhilaration at the fact that she was in and she would be able to make her moves faster. As she ran she didn't notice that she had a joyful smile on her face. The first one in a long time she would later note.

As she reached the courtyard in front of the orphanage she ended up bumping into someone. "Ow! Ah, I should have known it was you." A voice said mirthfully as Yume looked up while clutching the ticket tightly, making sure it didn't escape her grasp she had landed none to gracefully on her rump. "Izumi!" Yume exclaimed breathlessly as she couldn't help the smile from forming on her face or resist the childish urge to show her the ticket.

"Look! Look! I made it!"

Izumi chuckled as she ruffled her hair and then started squishing her cheeks. "Yup! I can see that." Yume continued smiling even though her cheeks were being squished, and for once Izumi could say that she sounded just like a kid her age. "Hm. You know, since you made it how about we go out for something to eat so we can celebrate."

Yume shook her head at that. "Ah. It's okay. There's no need plus I have to show Machiko-san that I made it. And my chores too." She had to show her that so she couldn't argue or remark about her not going until she was older. Childish it may be, but she couldn't help but go with the flow of her emotions right now.

"Hm…Is that so. Well, instead of that how 'bout I go help you get the stuff that you'll need tomorrow." Izumi suggested. "Actually, that might not be bad idea now that I think about it, I can also take the other kids too. It'll help Machiko-san and…

"Mhm. Yeah, okay" Yume ignored her words as she turned to go into the orphanage with Izumi behind her.

Machiko had not been pleased to know that Yume had passed, she had not been pleased either with the fact the other kids had passed period. She sighed as she watched them all leave with Izumi to go buy what they needed. She wasn't the only one to watch them leave as many others watched them enviously.

It may have been awful to say but she hoped most of them were dropped so they wouldn't have to go off and fight, only to die. She had seen far too many go with only letters given to her to let her know of the deaths of many of the children they had cared for. Her lips tightened into a thin line as she brought her mind out of those thoughts. They would only lead to dark places.

She sighed as she rushed the rest of the children back inside once Izumi and they were out of sight. "Come now children, back inside, and to your studies." She couldn't help but smile when she heard the resounding whines and groans as the little ones grudgingly moved towards their classes. At this a small loving smile appeared on her face as she moved to get everything in order for the day.

Yume frowned as she was shoved aside by one of the older girls as she reached for a nice fitting shirt that had caught her eye. Sighing inside she moved away and just grabbed a couple of tan colored long sleeve shirts from the bin next to her. Surprisingly as she looked they were in her size and a few slightly bigger, this worked given that she would grow in the next few years. Also judging from the material, they were durable too, she then gazed and saw a few pairs of dark green and brown shorts and took them. Much to her delight they were also about her size.

She glanced back towards the other girls and boys were getting newer clothes with brighter colors. She could understand their excitement, new clothes that weren't baggy or obvious secondhand donations. However, they had a limit to how much they could spend in the store, and while they could only buy two pairs from what they were buying she could at least have a full set for the week by how much cheaper these were.

While keeping her grip on the clothes she made her way to the counter as she stood in the small line that had formed. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Izumi was rolling her eyes as she gazed at the pile of clothes she had. Yume couldn't help but huff, as she finally stepped in front of the counter and paid for her clothes and the two pair of ninja sandals she had gotten.

The register lady smiled at her as she gave her back her ticket when she finished. Yume returned the polite smile and made her way towards Izumi, their self-proclaimed guide.

"You know…you could have chosen far cuter clothes. Those colors are just so…dull." Izumi noted as she eyed her bag.

"Yes well, they're practical, and their just clothes in the end. If I ever want something cute…I'll do that some other time when this place isn't a war zone." Yume eyed the way the girls reached for things they liked as well as other girls from other orphanages that came today.

"Ah. True but it's always fun watching them wreak havoc, and squabble. So long as they don't create a lot of chaos that is." At that word Yume couldn't help but give a little shudder as it reminded her of a certain person she never wanted to get on their shit list.

'And with my luck I already am. No one makes Tsuna worry and gets away with it whether he's around or not.'

"Oh well, all that's left is to get your academy needed gear and we're done."

"Finally." Was the dry response she got.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Other than the fact we've been here for half the day, nothing."

"Well it can't be helped now deal with it."

"What do you think I have been doing then."

"Well…ah…" Izumi pouted as she crossed her arms. "Whatever, you're still not cute."

"What does me being cute have anything to do with this matter? As I see it, it has zero relevance." Yume smiled internally as Izumi pouted more and looked away from her pointedly.

"Ah, it sure is fun to win.' She thought as she watched the chaotic mess that the children were creating. It was strangely calming to her and a wave of nostalgia washed over her.


	4. Chapter 4

**M: I don't own KHR or Naruto**

Ch. 4

A couple of weeks had passed since the trip to get all their school supplies and it was now July. A very hot July, one could add and she had decided it would be a clever idea to map out more of Konoha than she already had. It was all under the pretext of wanting to go play somewhere else and she had ditched the other kids she had been told to accompany. She'd get in trouble for running off on her own but she was confident she would at least be safe so long as she avoided any shady areas. Those she would scope out later when she was stronger and capable. All so she could come up with some draft of how to escape the village if things ended up going awry and she needed to have a secure escape route.

Of course, things wouldn't always go as planned so she'd need to get a good layout of everything. She sighed as she avoided bumping into all the people she passed by in the busy shopping district she was currently in. 'Gah! This place is freaking huge! This will take a lot longer than just a few days. Tch! Stupid short legs, she shot a brief glare towards her legs before she avoided accidently bumping into another person who didn't notice her.' Oh, how she hated being a little kid.

It took a while but she eventually she had passed through the heavily crowded area rather it had thinned somewhat due to the time it was now. She frowned as she noted that it was probably around two, and she had roughly three hours before she had to begin her trek back to the orphanage. She muttered to herself. "Well at least I have a good start for the next time." And she did, granted it was mostly just the shopping district and the outer areas of it but from here she could begin on making her routes for now.

Nodding to herself and mentally patting herself on the back she headed down the street to her left. A bit more of exploring wouldn't hurt she would just have to add this more to the map she would start on when she returned to her room. It wouldn't be that odd if she appeared to be writing in one of the few journals she had bought. It was something she had already started using, refining her handwriting.

As she continued walking she couldn't help but notice a startling shade of red out of the corner of her eye, to the left of where she stood. She couldn't help but stare when she saw a pregnant woman, with long, flowing, red hair, a loose-fitting dress, and shinobi sandals carrying some grocery bags in her arms. If there were any other traits or characteristics she had, Yume was not able to discern them at this distance.

However, that really didn't matter to her as she observed the woman as she continued down the street. Her gaze remained on the woman's hair and she couldn't help but compare the similarity in color to one other person she knew. 'Kozato-san…' Her heart constricted as a wave of longing filled her heart of home.

Enma was one of Tsuna's best friends, and while Yume wasn't close to him, he was still integrated in her life. She would often see them talking together at gatherings and lamenting certain aspects of their chaotic lifestyle. A sad smile formed on her face as before she turned away, and because she dared not to look back, due to the emotions that swelled up from the sight of such a hair color, she failed to notice that the woman had caught her staring along with a blonde-haired man. Who then began to lightly scold the woman before taking the grocery bags himself when Yume was out of sight. However not before both passed a curious, and slightly suspicious for the blonde-haired man, glance in the direction she went.

* * *

"Honestly Yume, you know better than to go off by yourself! You could have been kidnapped or worse!" Machiko scolded her harshly as she continued. Yume made sure to appear repentant as she looked at the floor in shame. "Yume, look at me. Look at me."

Yume looked up as she stared at the disappointed gaze Machiko was giving her, causing a guilty feeling to rise in her. She squashed it down however, no use in feeling such a thing when it was an emotion she had no need for. She had done many other things that should have caused her to feel guilt, this was nothing compared to those events.

Yume heard Machiko sigh in exasperation as she looked away, as she began to scold the other children for not watching her more closely, as it was their responsibility. Granted it was her decision to run off, so really, they weren't at fault by her actions. When the older woman finished she sent them off with a warning to be more responsible next time she returned her reprimanding gaze at her.

Yume couldn't help but flinch at this, the childish part of her was scared and sad that she had disappointed the older woman. "You will be sent off without dinner today, and you will oversee throwing away all the trash along with the rest of your chores for the next two weeks. Also, you're not allowed to go outside of the orphanage grounds until the academy starts either."

Yume squashed the childish urge to whine and complain and merely nodded in acquiescence. While inwardly kicking herself for not thinking ahead that she would be in house arrest for running off, and in hindsight this was something she should have taken in consideration. Drat. This would also put her on laying out her map more. "Yes ma'am."

"Good, now go and start. The faster you finish the earlier you can rest."

"Okay." She turned to leave in silence as the older woman felt pity for doing this to the young child, but knew that she had let her get away with enough that she had to put her foot down sooner than later. It would not do her any good to just let the little child do as she pleased, and allowing for the other children to think she was favoring one child over another.

"So, you got in trouble today I heard." A familiar voice called out from above her as she carefully through the trash bags into the disposal bins. She did not want to have the odor of garbage on her after having taken a bath. The only bath she could have today.

Yume pursed her lips but stayed quiet as the person jumped down next to her, Izumi's eyes shown in amusement. "Fancy that, and hear I thought you were little miss good shoes, stick in the mud." She continued as she squished Yume's cheeks, who in turn glared at her harder.

"Aww, don't give me that look, you're the one that brought this on yourself after all." Izumi giggled as Yume rolled her eyes. "So where did you run off to then, hm? Was it that you caught sight of a handsome young lad and you wanted to chase after him and get to know him better?" Izumi joked and she then cackled at the disgusted look on the little girl's face. Oh, how she couldn't wait till she hit puberty and then how things would change. It would be so much fun to tease her. Although it wasn't that odd to see some girls around Yume's age start crushing or fawning over a boy.

If Yume had known what was going on through the older girls mind she would have right then and there left her but not before hurling a bag of trash in childish retaliation, and then not even deigning to give Izumi the time of day as she left. Alas, she didn't know what was going on through her mind as she just merely watched the girl wheeze for air with a bored expression on her face.

When Izumi was finally able to breathe she pinched Yume's cheeks hoping to get a reaction out of her. Yume merely muttered and swatted the older girls hand away as she began to go inside. "Ah wait! Before you go, I want to show you something. It's back at my place though."

"Izumi-san, I'm not allowed outside of orphanage grounds until school starts." Izumi's lips quirked upwards at that. 'Oh well, it'll just have to wait until then I suppose.'

"Ohhoh, so you're grounded."

"Yes."

"Then in that case…I suppose it'll have to wait. Oh, but there is something I do want to say." Izumi suddenly turned serious as Yume paused midstep at the change in tone.

"Well, it's more of rumors that I've heard that occasionally, a few people have been known to disappear and they've never been seen again. While random, most of the children that have disappeared appeared to be exceptional. Doesn't matter if it was mentally or skills. At this Yume frowned. "Disappearances? And targeting those aspects too-' Before her thoughts could form any further Izumi spoke again and Yume listened attentively.'

"Of course, they're just rumors and it seems to have quieted to an extent recently but well, it's not as if I'm blind you know. You're smart and even though I haven't seen your skills I know you've picked on somethings I have done. You seem to want to get ahead and stronger for some reason and well, I thought this could help you, ya know I don't want you disappearing on me..." Izumi smiled and brought her into a hug and Yume couldn't help but sigh at the fact that Izumi was a very physical person. "So, don't get caught alone, or unawares okay?"

"…Thanks." Sigh, this would only damper her plans further.

"No problem." Izumi grinned. "Although I don't know your motivations on this I'm not going to speak a word about it ok? Ah, but if you turn out to be doing this for a bad reason, I'm going to stop you okay?" A sad smile formed at that last sentence.

"…That's fair but you know…why I want to isn't so much as a bad reason as a selfish one." Yume decided after a moment of hesitation to admit that much and Izumi raised an eyebrow at that little snippet of information Yume shared and the sincerity in her voice.

"I see…then in that case selfish is better than bad or harmful I suppose." Izumi mused as she put her hands behind her head. "But just clarify what is this selfish reason."

"To be with my family again." Yume didn't say anymore as she made her way inside while Izumi watched her. Once more, Izumi couldn't help but notice that despite being younger than her Yume felt to be a lot older than her at times. A lot sadder too.

'Maa…things never are easy it seems.' Izumi thought for with the information they had it could mean quite a few things and she hoped it didn't mean a path that would lead to her death.

* * *

The day finally arrived for the start of the academy and Yume would be reluctant to admit that she also was caught up in the excitement that seemed to permeate the air around them. Lots of children were beaming with their parents and even those without parents were chatting along happily with any friends they had. Yume of course didn't go around talking with any of the children but she could feel herself bounce with excitement swelling inside.

This was the next step, the next stepping stone to her goal, and while it would be galling having to wait a couple of years until she graduated to start on the path of a genin, and then chunin. However, if she saw the opportunity she would leave before then. It wouldn't matter that she'd be at a slight disadvantage in strength at the start. She could build up from there, and hiding among other villages if she saw any would be easier as she would not be affiliated to any ninja village.

This helped calm her mood slightly as her expression shifted from concealed excitement to thoughtful. 'That could work, and it wouldn't be too odd if I just disappeared one day and with no one the wiser, they would just chock it all up to being the same event as the other disappearances... Huh, my main concern for now could end up being useful in the future.'

She brought herself out of her musings as all the new students along with the older ones made way to form a few rows in which they formed a line. As she followed suite she overheard snippets of conversations.

"…new Hokage…"

"Yeah, he's the Yellow Flash he- "

"…bring an end to the war- "

"Amazing- "

And while she was certain that Lal with the help of Reborn would kick her for ignoring the conversations and the insight that they would give her, she didn't bother to overhear more as her gaze was brought towards the man taking center stage on the podium. He seemed to have an imposing aura, a tan skin tone, had on the usual Konoha uniform from what she had learned from Izumi when she had asked one time about the uniforms, and a white short sleeved haori with flame motifs on the edges. However, what had caught her eye really was his hair which caused her to ignore the first half of what he was say, and it wasn't because of the color, the shape it was in. It was something she would later figure out that she did unconsciously when seeing others with hair that was exceptionally fluffy or spiky, like Tsuna's.

Obviously, it was not the _same_ , it wasn't as fluffy and the color was way off but it was similar and that reminder brought the feeling of longing to return once more. It didn't help that he was a leader of a group just as Tsuna was. She pinched herself and shook her head before she was consumed with helplessness at the fact that it could be impossible that she would never get back home. That they could not bring her back, that she could die before then.

She gritted her teeth as she focused on the last bit that he was saying. "And so, it is with the utmost joy and hope that I welcome you as students, and future comrades here today. May we do our best to protect our home and loved ones." The adults clapped at the speech the man had given and many of the students around her stared at the Yondaime happily.

She clapped politely along with the other students in her row. It wasn't long after that their teachers appeared to collect them. During this time, she felt a couple of gazes observing her but she made no move to turn around and see who it was. There was no ill intent laced in them they felt more analytical, watchful. Thankfully she was soon called forward and the gazes receded and she couldn't help but wonder if she was being target from the very start.

As she followed her sensei and classmates to her homeroom she scoffed at herself for being silly and paranoid, there was no reason for her to be a subject of interest. Yet. However, she would need to garner some attention in the hopes that they moved her up a grade or two, if such events also followed here for exceptionally gifted students. True it would bring her unwanted attention but she would take the risk for at least the first semester or two and if it didn't work out she would just slow down and let it be thought that it all was just a fluke and she was just slightly smarter than her classmates.

Reckless, but a gamble she would take, all that mattered was her leaving this place if it didn't have the answers or solutions she needed. As she sat down in her seat in the last row she admonished herself for thinking too far ahead. 'After I get stronger, then I can start expanding on my plans.'

* * *

"The file you requested lord Hokage." A browned haired chunin stated as he handed the file to the blonde-haired man sitting at his desk. He gave a slight bow of his head as he thanked the chunin.

"Thank you, that is all." He said as he began to read through the file.

"Yes sir." The door closed with a click before he put the file down and glanced towards the jōnin and Anbu remaining in the office.

"Was there any significant information that you gathered since that day."

"Forgive me Hokage-sama but not since that day, she remained in the orphanage since that day, and the only information that was gathered was the same that is written in the reports."

"I see…" The blonde man sighed as one of the Anbu then cleared his throat. "Yes Dog?"

"If I may Hokage-sama, why such interest in the orphan. It is odd"

"Ah, yes. Since you weren't here and you just returned it slipped my mind to notify you on this matter. This child, I caught her starting at Kushina a few weeks back, specifically her hair. That was odd because there seemed to sadness when she looked at it. It made me suspicious that she might know who Kushina was or if she knew someone from Kushina's clan. Unlikely, I know but a possibility nonetheless. I then had some Anbu monitor her to make sure she is not a threat or spy. And it wasn't until today that her files were finally found and brought over. However, that only opened more mysteries. As you can see for yourselves." He then handed the file to Dog who quickly scanned through it before handing it to his fellow comrades.

"A lot of blank and missing information." Was all he said as the Yondaime nodded as the file was then placed on his desk once more. "If it weren't for the fact that the writing was obviously the same as the other written files from that orphanage I'd have said it was a fake. Even then, it wouldn't excuse the fact that any obvious infiltrator would have made sure that all the necessary information was there to avoid suspicion. However, as you see there a lot is missing. No known parents or guardians, uncertainty of age, unknown origin, and when she was brought injured. There was no record of her ever entering the village either."

"Should she be eliminated?" Dog asked emotionlessly, as he steeled himself mentally if he was ordered to do so. It wasn't the worst thing he had done. The blonde-haired man shook his head. "No, while those things are a mystery tell me today at the entrance ceremony what did any of you notice."

The jōnin cleared his throat as he began. "She seemed was more reserved than the others and…when she gazed at you Hokage-sama it seemed sad more than anything." The blonde haired nodded as one of the other Anbu, cat, spoke.

"When observing her, at the end she appeared to have sensed our gazes but didn't turn to check who. She's perceptive but clearly needs to refine the skills to be more aware."

"I agree with Cat." The other Anbu, Canary stated. "Also, it seems, she tries to hide her emotions and succeeds to an extent but needs to work on that aspect as well. And unless she could fake that, then I do not think she could be a spy. At least not a very good one."

The blonde-haired man nodded again. "Indeed, her examination file was also brought up and there were a few blank answers but it was noted that she appeared to have above average intelligence for her age and should be tested to see just how far her limit would reach. Furthermore, her physique and chakra levels show that she has no formal training, apart from what she has gathered from watching a recent genin train when she was in the academy. Something she has picked on quick but doesn't push herself to the point it will hinder her. It seems she is aware to an extent what she can and can't do so far."

"A prodigy?"

"If my hunch is correct, yes, and no other village would send such a spy or potential shinobi so soon. They'd want to mold such a child into being loyal to their own before anything. So that brings a question how did this supposed 'prodigy' of unknown origins came to be here." He let the words sink in as the Anbu and Jonin faces turned grim. Not that it could be seen with the Anbu masks on.

"Then, we should further investigate this matter." Dog stated.

"It will be and with that said, if she is truly innocent of being a spy or infiltrator, subjecting her towards any of our current mind-reading methods or interrogation will not garner any loyalty for the village."

"Hokage-sama?" Cat asked and needed not to speak further as the Hokage continued.

"The best manner in how this should be handled is to subtlety garner information from observation as another gets further explanation of the child from the orphanage head. Check to see if there are any abnormalities or genjutsu placed on her as well. If she checks out, then we can help foster the child to be love Konoha and be loyal to it as well." Manipulation. They would manipulate the child to be one of the best and loyal kunoichi they have.

It was not something, the Yondaime would be proud of doing, but if it was for the village he would give his life protecting it. Especially now with his son on the way. With that thought in mind he let a small, barely noticeable smile slip as he then gave orders. "Cat you will be observing the child once more, Canary you will gather the rest from the orphanage head," Both Anbu bowed as they received their orders and left to their assignments quickly, and notifying two other Anbu to take their posts. Tenza, you will be in charge of getting information from the instructors along with your regular duties."

"Yes Hokage-sama." The jōnin bowed before heading out, his orders received. Dog at this shifted slightly, appearing agitated. "Yes Kakashi?"

An air of disproval permeated the air as the Anbu faced the Hokage. At this the man sitting down chuckled. "It is fine for now, there's no need for formalities Kakashi, and I know you would have liked to have been assigned one of these positions but I have a different assignment for you of which you will be given in a few days."

"Yes…Minato-sensei." The Anbu stated and Minato chuckled lightly at that. "Go get some rest now, and do join me and Kushina for dinner tonight. She's been worried sick about you."

"…Sensei."

"Hm?" The Hokage had started on the paperwork that never seemed to end and it wouldn't if he put it off any further.

"You're rather merciless, leaving me to the hands of Kushina-san until you get back." At that Minato laughed as he could feel Kakashi's annoyed glare. No one wanted to be on his wife's bad side, or on the receiving end of her mother henning as it can be intense at times. Not even him,

"I do not know what you're talking about. Now go rest up, we'll catch up more at dinner." Kakashi left with only a few leaves being a reminder he had been there and Minato knew that it today was off to a good start.

* * *

Yume yawned, as she read her assigned readings tiredly. It had already been a few weeks since school had started and now it was mid-September and things have been progressing well for her. Well, except for the part of mapping more in the back of one of her journal, but it wasfine since she had been given some advanced, or at least advanced for her age group, course material and it was tough, but workable nonetheless since all she ever did now study and train.

She looked outside the window to see all her fellow classmates enjoying their time at recess. Playing games or just chatting with one another, it was nice, and relaxing to just observe when she was taking a break. Unlike when they were all grouped together and she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb. Of which she did, seeing as she had been notably given more work than the other students, and a few hushed conversations of teachers speculating her being a prodigy.

Something she was not, but she would take it for now. Although she doubted with such rumors starting up that she could just fall behind in so easily in her classes if she wasn't moved up. She bit her lip thoughtfully. She'd have to figure something out if that turned out to be the case.

'Right, but for now…better finish this mathematics first. Joy.' She uttered in her mind as she returned her gaze to her work. 'Well…at least it's not Reborn difficult or length approved wise. That's just pure hell and torture from what I recall.' And she did while ignoring the small pang of pain go through her heart, as remised on watching Tsuna and the others being assigned packets of study material they had to learn in a week. And they weren't thin packets either. She shivered at the one time she had also been caught up in such a thing and didn't finish on time. A boss' subordinate should not be incompetent after all and always finish their tasks without fail. Suffice to say, she ended up with an extra packet, along with a surprise visit from Lal as a favor for Reborn. "Never again…" She muttered quietly as she started complaining in her mind about his teaching methods.

In another universe a fedora wearing, dark haired kid, felt irritation rise. He could tell someone was complaining about his methods as a tutor. As he sipped his expresso, with a gleam in his eyes, a smirk formed on his face. 'It's time I visited my dear students and when I find the one who insulted my tor-teaching methods. They will receive adequate punishment for doing so and if I can't find them…well.' He gave a light chuckle. 'Well at least I'll be able to test just how much more they've grown.'

At this time two well-known people felt a shiver climb up the spine as they could just feel a sense of dread consume them while they worked. Whatever would happen, would not be good.

However, Yume was blissfully unaware of the misfortune she brought on these two poor, overworked souls, as she was steadily tackling her worksheets.

* * *

It had just been like any other late afternoon by this point, falling into a routine of training and studying in the noisy shared bedroom with the other orphans. Most were outside playing, Machiko was moving the younger ones along to take a bath, while the rest babbled about their day and their plans for tomorrow. All in all, it was just normal but then a sickening, malicious aura seemed to cut the air and they could hear thundering noises, along with some shaking on the ground.

By this point all the children were brought inside and told not to look, blinds were quickly put up, covering the windows. Some of the children tried to peek through the blinds in curiosity while others started whimpering and crying. There were also a few who had a confused look on their faces, and a few who also started to feel ill. Yume was part of the last two groups of kids.

'This feeling…what is going on. It sounds as if there is a battle going happening nearby, but the wars over. At least officially, did someone launch an attack? No but…' Panic began to swell up inside her, she couldn't die here, not now. Dread rose up inside her and it didn't help that this malicious aura seemed to be quite potent. Chakra if she recalled the feeling.

It wasn't until recently that they had started her on chakra control and manipulation. It was then that she realized when she concentrated enough that she could also feel the chakra of others. It wasn't very comfortable and brought a huge headache from sensory overload. This was chakra, but she could feel it without even concentrating on it, and it made her feel ill. As she looked at her hands, she could see them shaking.

No, this wasn't right, she shouldn't be trembling like a scared child, but that's what she was a child, and her child instincts screamed for her to run, hide and seek comfort from an adult. Anyone. As much as she willed herself to stop she couldn't and remained like that until the chakra faded but it wouldn't be until one of the orphanage volunteers touched her shoulder that she realized how she had reacted.

She wiped her tears, as she was directed to her futon with her whole body shaking still, it didn't take long, before she succumbed to sleep. Allowing herself, to push that feeling to the recesses of her mind for now.

It wasn't until she awoke a few days later that she realized that following that night she had caught a heavy fever and just like that first day she appeared here, awoke in the room that served as an infirmary if the need ever arose. Only, she was not alone, Izumi had taken a seat next to her and had a weariness in her eyes.

"Hey...I'm glad you're up. It's been a while since we last talked." At this Yume blinked as she realized it had been. Since the day she started the academy she hadn't really been out much as she had hoped, spending all of her time training and studying what she could, while Izumi had been off to missions.

"Ah…yeah. Um…what happened? You look tired." At this Izumi stiffened before relaxing a bit as she sighed.

"It's been a mess so I don't doubt I do as for what happened I can't say." Izumi stated grimly as Yume tilted her head in confusion, her brows scrunched as she frowned.

"So, then you can't tell me why I'm here?" At this Izumi looked startled before giving herself an admonishing look. "Ah, right sorry. Silly me. Uh, well it seemed you had caught a bad fever for some reason and well, you were out for three days. Well two and a half technically since you just woke up and also your fever passed but you still didn't wake so…"

"Uh, okay." Yume frowned at the fact that the dirty blonde-haired girl had been speaking about something else but wouldn't pry. She then sighed as she recalled that she had left out her stuff and hadn't put it away, along with the fact she had missed class on Friday, as well as tomorrow she'd expect.

"…Sorry to ask but Izumi." The tired looking teen smiled to her a bit.

"Yes?"

"Where's my stuff? Do you know?"

"Huh? Oh! You must mean your school work, right?"

Yume gave a nod, and Izumi motioned at the wall. "It's back in your room in your cubby. Ah, I should give you a heads up, there's been a few extra arrivals since you've been out and the academy has been closed for a short while it resumes next week. A notice has been passed around but with…" Izumi stopped herself.

"Anyways, you'd probably not hear a word about it since a lot of people have been busy."

"Oh…"

"Yeah…"

Silence soon followed, Yume due to wondering what had happened but knowing better than to pry at the girl who looked like she was about to fall asleep. "You should rest…"

"Yeah I know…" Yume then gave her a look that asked why she didn't do so. Izumi gave a sheepish look as she rubbed the back of her head. "I got worried…and when I arrived I was told you had gotten ill. And since most of the matrons were occupied I volunteered to take care of you in my time off, along with helping them."

"I see…well as you can tell I'm better…if a bit thirsty." Yume admitted as a cup was soon placed in front of her. "Ah, thank you." She didn't move to take a drink as she gazed at izumi with concern. "Anyways…like I said I'm feeling better and you need to rest. I'm sure I can manage without your care now." At this Izumi made a face and Yume sighed.

"If you don't you're going to end up collapsing you know, and that'll deter with you wanting to help here and your responsibilities." At this Izumi pinched her cheeks. "Look at you, using such big words, you so aren't cute at all."

"Oi!" Yume let out in annoyance as Izumi smirked as she rose tiredly.

"Fine. I'll go rest but once I get the chance I'll be back to help…along with you I expect." Yume gave a nod as she watched Izumi leave. Her gaze calm towards the cup before she downed it slowly. She could ponder on what exactly occurred later, but for now she wanted to rest a bit more. As she set her cup down and settled under the covers, she detachedly observed the light of the sun fading from the open window before falling asleep once more.

 **M: So, here's the next chapter I have so far. I apologize for not updating for a while like I should have. I got better from my surgery and then when finals were done I thought I'll take a week-long break and then start updating… . That didn't happen, I ended up playing persona 5 for a while longer than I had expected, then came along more house remodeling yay, and then a whole week of feeling ill from getting food poison. Not the best feeling in the world, I felt I'd die from the pain, as well as starting to better take care of my health. That last part sums up the unavoidable delays.**

 **Although there were other things that did delay me from updating and I pushed writing back because of. One of them being I tend to get distracted and lost in my own fantasies when listening to music, the other is I've been practicing and drawing digital art. I've drawn some of Yume and a few of other characters. So yeah…**

 **However, I've gotten my tush off of putting aside finishing up my writing, as you can see here. And I must say writing Minato was difficult…anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **P.S. I've done some maturing recently, even if it's not a lot but with some new things that I've realized were very childish and well…things I cringe or feeling like slamming my head on the wall because it's just like what the hell was I thinking! Anyways, this has impacted a bit on how I go with the original content of my fanfic such as Yume's background.**

 **Also, I know someone wanted me not to bring the KHR characters into the Naruto world, and well I won't bring all of them. There is also one less and that's Hibari. And as much as I'd have loved to bring him over I see that realistically he wouldn't have appeared without good reason, or unavoidable circumstances. And so, he won't appear. I had wanted to incorporate this part too somehow or at least a form of it depending on how the story would have formed. See?**

She paled at the sight of the young, familiar teen before her. His narrowed gaze cut through her as his glare turned fierce. "Repeat that herbivore." He ordered as she felt sweat dripping down her face as she quivered in fear.

"A-ah. Time- Time runs differently here Hibari-san…s-so it'll be longer here than b-back ho-oome!" She squeaked as she paled even further as she spoke once he took out his tonfas and she quickly evaded the strike aimed for her head. She ignored the other figures laughter as she evaded Hibari's attacks by jumping up on to a tree sticking to it like her life depended on her. She did not want to face Hibari's ire and oh god, she did something wrong by evading him.

"Hm…seems you've gotten stronger herbivore…but that won't save you." She mentally cried while cursing the other below for not helping her escape Hibari's wrath. She gave a small prayer to all the trees that were sacrificed due to her trying to outrun the pissed off monster that was Hibari Kyoya.

 **M: And that's part of how I envisioned the reunion with them would go. Oh well…but there is a reason why they'll appear though.**

 **P.P.S. I'm also going to recommend books or other fanfics or give random facts, if anyone would like. That is if you read that part anyways. So here is my first story recommendation!**

 **Born of Legend by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Be warned, I think this is more of a R 18+ due to some cough* scenes *cough* It's part of her League series and Kya! I love it! It made me cry and I hardly cry. More than just the romance aspect of the book, I love the world building this series has. It's also set in a futuristic setting and well, I can't fully explain it well but if anyone would ever like to read it give it a go. Although, you'd understand it better if you read it from the first book, and one of her books in this series does center around a gay couple so there's that. Still give it a go if anyone wants.**


	5. Chapter 5

**M: I don't have own KHR or Naruto**

 **Also, I've been debating about something since I have made a Tumblr Account and I only use it to follow on extras, aus of there fanfic and other great stuff fellow writers on here have made. And well, it's pretty awesome what they do and so I was wondering if any of you guys would like to see something similar for this fanfic.**

 **I mean I've already made a few omake's and other scenarios that are just there in my data files but I haven't really posted them anywhere. And if not I'll just end up posting the omake's sometime in the chapters too.**

 **a bit, but I have a Tumblr. Account and I only use it to follow on extras, aus of their fanfic and other great stuff fellow writers on here have made. And well, it's pretty awesome what they do and so I was wondering if any of you guys would like to see something similar for this fanfic.**

 **I mean I've already made a few omake's and other scenarios that are just there in my data files but I haven't really posted them anywhere. And if not I'll just end up posting the omake's sometime in the chapters ahead. Ah, and if anyone has any questions on here, just pm me, or even just ask me on Tumblr if anyone wants at azurebubble12 being my username. Well, please have fun reading ^^**

 **Ch. 5**

The rest of her school year passed without incident since that afternoon, and she began taking her kunoichi classes, of which she hadn't been aware were required. Her course work also rose in their difficult and she actually had to spend more time studying and increase the difficulty of her training to increase her fitness and strength.

Of course, just because everything was going smoothly for her, didn't mean she hadn't noticed that there had been changes occurring. The week that the Academy resumed, she noticed that a few of the academy teachers were replaced, not to mention that outside of the academy there seemed to be a lot of architects and builders around. The obvious evidence of why, was due to the massive amount of totaled buildings everywhere, leading to the obvious conclusion that whatever occurred had been incredibly destructive. Heck, it even surpassed the amount of destructive force generated from fights that Hibari and Mukuro began.

Also, there was a high influx of orphans being induced into all the orphanages that had been left unscathed during that week and all of them were distraught. The children were left in the dark about what happened, and when some of the kids asked about their previous teacher, they merely deflected the question while having a grim look on their face. It was pretty obvious something terrible occurred but she did not inquire about it like the others did. For now, all that mattered was getting stronger, and further faster. Whatever occurred had nothing to do with her, but the mere fact that she could have been killed so easily caused a wave of nausea go through her. It was only thanks to the distance the Yuhi orphanage was located from the origin of the devastation.

 _She might not even have survived that night._

However, even though she didn't ask what occurred, she was able to find out a few weeks after her second year began in the academy. It wasn't like she was oblivious to what it meant when she saw the previous Hokage on the center stage, where the previous year it was the Yondaime. It only meant that he had died somehow and her assumptions were proven correct when they had been given an update on the village history. They said that the Fourth sacrificed his life protecting the village from the Kyuubi, a tailed-beast of gigantic proportions made of chakra. However, she couldn't help but feel there was more to this than what was mentioned in the updated book.

She sighed as she slammed her book shut. 'Whatever, it's not as if it's relevant to my objective. Plus, I get the feeling that if I did find out it would only lead to massive problems for me down the road.' She hummed the Namimori anthems as she turned the pages of her journal to the expanded map of hers. While the devastation to the village ended up altering the layout of the village and she wasn't aware of how much since she never finished touching up at the beginning, so the current map was of areas near the academy and places where her presence wouldn't be too suspicious when accompanying her fellow orphanage peers when she followed them around. The map may not be the best or super detailed so far but in the future, it could help her with routing the best ways out of the village. However, she had discovered recently that outside of the physical walls surrounding the village, there was also a sensing barrier. Information received from her lessons. However, she wasn't certain if sensing who enters also applied to those leaving the barrier. So, her plans for leaving undetected might not work out like she hoped if worse comes to worse. She traced the outlines carefully and stopped as she sensed a teacher approaching, turning the page back to where it was in the beginning.

Sensing others chakra and pinpointing who it belonged to had been something she had been training to get the hang of. Sensing the chakra of her classmates was easy since they didn't know how to suppress it yet, and they would be learning that this semester, but for those higher than a genin level it was more difficult. Usually, for Chunin, it was dimmer but still easy to sense to an extent, even when she wasn't actively trying to. However, more experienced, and higher ranked shinobi were difficult to detect and differentiate…when they were purposefully suppressing it that is, and on the rare occasions that they weren't she could feel just how vast the differences were with a genin and theirs were. She grimaced at the fact, the difference was daunting, it could even be compared to equal Reborn's level of strength. Which was just plain terrifying. Although, if she got the hang of sensing them, it'd be easy to tell if she was ever followed and not mistaking it for a critter or regular civilian. 'But that's a thought to pursue later on. I can't get too ahead of myself or it might not even be possible to be able to differentiate at all.'

She hadn't mentioned this ability to anyone yet though, not even Izumi who she hadn't seen for a year now. It scared her honestly if something terrible had happened to her, but there was no word on that. What scared her more though, was the fact that she cared. She cared for the young teen, like a little sister, well technically older if you were going by physical age, but still. It wasn't something she had wanted to happen, she had wanted to avoid forming any strong bonds with anyone. It was easier letting others go that way. She unconsciously made a face before jumping from her seat a bit as the door opened.

"Ah, Yume-chan there you are. Studying again are you?" Her sensei entered the classroom, as she nodded at his question. Well, it wasn't a lie per se, she was studying her map after all, but he didn't need to know that. "Good, good." He responded cheerfully.

"Actually, I have a few other worksheets for you. I thought you would like that." He walked over to give her the papers and she bowed her head in gratitude.

"Thank you, sensei." He chuckled as she glanced at the papers and made note of what areas she would have to revise later, to make sure they were correct.

"Heh. I knew you were far more intelligent than what Rei-kun said. You really do have that presence down pat." At his statement, Yume turned to look up at her sensei and for the first time in the past year actually looked at him. He seemed familiar but she could not recall from where. Although, it wasn't that difficult to see why, he had the common short, dark hair color many people had here, narrow dark green eyes, a tan skin tone, and the shinobi uniform worn by those ranked chunin and above. If she was back home such a thing wouldn't have flown by unnoticed, not that she would have done that anyway. However, with how easy most of it was and the rest she learned on her own time, she hadn't bothered to pay attention outside of what she deemed important.

Seeing her confusion, he sighed as he looked to the side a bit in annoyance. "I should have known, your type usually doesn't seem to pay much notice to us common folk." He joked as he shook his head, making his way back to the front of the class. "I was helping with the Academy entrance exams when you started, and now I'm stuck as an instructor."

"I'm sorry." She said feeling a bit guilty in fact, she realized she hadn't even bothered to memorize his name. Crap, that wasn't exactly good. 'Uh, wait maybe…I think…it was something like Renji? Ryuji?' She tried to recall but found she was drawing a blank which increased her guiltiness by a large margin. She had him already for more than a few months and she didn't know his name. Granted she didn't really interact with him outside of school but he had been the one giving her the advanced coursework.

Unbeknownst of her internal struggle, he waved it off. "No worries, no worries." He said good naturedly as he then muttered under his breath. "Although, it should have been Rei that got stuck with this position rather than me. Gah! It's not fair. I should be the one out taking field missions not stuck here in a classroom!" By this time, she had given up her short struggle; deciding to just pick up that information later when her classmates asked a question to him, or if it was said in passing. Because of this she only overheard him muttering.

Yume tilted her head a bit as her brows furrowed. Okay? That was weird. The bell then rang and soon the sounds of students running towards class filled the air. Shrugging it off, she got her pencil ready to take notes.

'Maybe, I should focus on class today instead of reminiscing.' She thought, the uncomfortable feeling of guilt still lingering. However, once he began his lesson she abandoned that plan as he had started on material she had already gone over a week ago. 'I'll just do it next time but if his name comes by in passing I'll just make note of that then.'

With that in mind, she drifted off, in thought towards her memories, not wanting to begin forgetting anything about her home and family.

* * *

The first time she met _the_ Itachi Uchiha, it couldn't really be considered meeting him as much as making note of his existence and not doing more than that. Even then the situation really wasn't that impressive, more of annoying and uncomfortable when she found out about his existence.

For once, Yume wasn't inside the classroom like usual, it wasn't as if she had been forced by her sensei, whose name she learned was Kenjiro Yusa, to go out and socialize with the other kids. Nope. That's definitely not why she was standing under a tree awkwardly near a group of squealing, giggling girls. It wasn't as if she didn't know how to interact with little kids, but during those times she was older opposed to their exact age. Not only that but playing around and chatting with them didn't appeal to her in the least when she could be studying and progressing towards her goal, and even then it wasn't as if she and her classmates interacted much. There had been an unspoken agreement with her and them that they would leave each other alone outside of what was necessary, and both sides were happy with that.

There was also the case that most of the girls seemed to be squealing and gushing from afar on a boy. Which wasn't odd of an occurrence, since most of the girls back at her school did the same with Hayato, Yamamoto, or Hibari. Hell, even Tsuna and Enma, and…actually all of the males she knew were fangirled over, especially in high school. _However_ , they were older rather than prepubescent children in this case. So, forgive her when disbelief flittered across her face as she stared at them incredulously.

"He's soo cute!" Girl A squealed, hiding her blush with her hands.

"No, you mean handsome." Girl B argued as she then fake swooned.

"Yeah, definitely handsome and dreamy!" Girl C agreed.

Pretty soon the whole swarm of girls was gushing loudly, even some of the girls that were older than her physically joined in. With an uncomfortable expression she moved away, and she noticed she wasn't the only one uncomfortable with their fangirling. Because that is what that can only be described, she saw that most boys that were just simply eating their lunch or resting nearby looked annoyed or disgusted by them.

'Who the hell is it they're even fangirling over?' She thought with mild curiosity, as she shifted her gaze from the girl's to their object of attention and as she looked she felt like face palming. "You have got to be kidding me." She groaned quietly because she had thought they were squealing over a boy older than them at the very least but no. It was a kid around her physical age, and she didn't think he was that good looking to be described as handsome. He was small, just like all children were, slightly long jet-black hair that reached his jaw, fair skin, and wore a long sleeved black shirt and gray shorts.

Cute? Sure, as most kids were always cute at that age. Handsome? Someone needed to get their eyesight checked. She snorted mentally, she had met a lot of handsome men in her line of work, and even then, that took second priority over to who they were and what position they held. Heck, their intentions and skills even came before their looks.

She sighed as she felt sympathy for the poor kid, who seemed uncomfortable about the attention given to him despite his apparent lack of care on his face. Of course, she wasn't about to say anything towards those girls, females were vicious if provoked enough. That didn't exclude herself either but she had never been one to go boy crazy.

'Then again it could be because…' Shaking her head, she decided that she was not going to make any headway in 'socializing' as Yusa-sensei put it. This was something, she'd put off until she couldn't anymore.

Once she reached her classroom, Yusa-sensei appeared amused as she entered. "I thought I told you to go socialize Yume-chan." She gave him a displeased look.

"I'm sorry sensei, but I don't think that the 'socializing' you had in mind was what all of them consider 'socializing'. I'm sure they're having a positively enjoyable time fangirling and gossiping over their object of affection but I know full well I wouldn't have. Plus the boys would have probably just steered clear of me on principle just in case I was like the other girls. " The response came out dryer than she wanted but she shrugged it off as she made her way to her seat. He raised an eye brow as a knowing look passed his face.

"Ah, so things haven't changed since then either." He gave a snort, while she shrugged. She wouldn't know but if that happened, clearly there was more of a difference in culture than she realized. She muttered under her breath. "It's weird, and the boy wasn't even what you'd call 'handsome'. I've seen more handsome ones anyways." She muttered the last part with a huff.

Yusa-sensei gave a laugh, having heard her. "Never thought, I'd see the day where someone would comment that. It's always been the same, all the Uchiha getting attention that is." He sighed as he half-heartedly graded papers. Man, this was totally not for him, Rei is the one more prone to doing the paperwork without fuss.

"Uchiha…oh, it's one of the four noble clans." She thought out loud as she recalled that piece of information they had learned last year. 'Still, that doesn't explain why they seem to be popular by what sensei is saying. Unless it's for political reasons or raising their status by marrying into the clan?' She pondered.

"Yeah, and the heir is the main one most of them are focusing their attention on this year. You and he would probably get along Yume-chan, considering your statuses." At this, she gave him a wordless question and now he gave her a look of disbelief. "Don't tell me you haven't heard." He shook his head. "You know what, it doesn't surprise me. It's rumored that he's a prodigy just like you." She made a face when he said the word prodigy. "Many are saying that it's a blessing to have two exceptional future shinobi in our midst after..." He cut himself off before continuing. "Anyhow, it's been the center of much debate of which of you two is better since you both have shown great potential. I hear there's even a betting pool going."

"Um…okay." Her reply came out hesitant while kicking herself mentally for who knows how many times in which she has missed vital information all because she's either too focused on getting better or reminiscing about home. She definitely has a problem she needs to fix or else she'll land in big trouble someday "Um…by the way, Yusa-sensei why are you telling me this. Ah I mean it... is just weird how casual you talk with a little kid."

"Hah! Don't I know it." Kenji gave a harsh laugh before continuing on in a slightly more serious but still cheerful tone. "However, it doesn't really feel like you're a little kid, even when comparing you to that Uchiha heir. Still, it's undeniable you are, and yet…I don't know it feels like I'm speaking with someone near my age sometimes." At his description Yume grimaced, this is why she disliked being a little kid surrounded by shinobi at all times. They were just too perceptive, while back home, most would definitely see her as odd but just chock it up to her just being a bit more mature than kids her own age and think nothing more of it. Here though, it could lead to her death but seeing as she hadn't she has been doing something right or she should be wary for something to come.

She slumped forward, planting her face on top of her desk, she did not want to deal with that. Kenji though seemed to misinterpret her thoughts and spoke soothingly. "Hey, don't get all glum about that. It can be a good thing too. Like, at this way most of the others will just see how much more capable you are in understanding situations in the future and you'll be taken more seriously." A pause. "Maybe."

If he was expecting a reply, she didn't give one because the bell soon rang and as always sounds of hundreds of little feet filled the air, running towards their respective classes.

* * *

The first time Itachi had noticed the peculiar girl Yume, who some called his rival he would later learn, was when he was walking with his head facing down while the other three boys were making a scene telling his fellow Academy peers to make way for him in the hallway to class. He wanted them to stop. He didn't like it, it wasn't something he was proud of.

However, they're repeated exclamations were then halted as one of the boys yelled at her for not moving aside. However, the small, messy brown-haired girl with rather bland, slightly baggy clothing merely glanced at them without saying anything, an air of indifference about her as she gazed at the other boys with a knowing look. When her gaze briefly flickered onto him, he could tell that she gazed at him with pity and a knowing look.

He merely stared blankly, because those eyes didn't seem to have the same light and shine like the other kids he had seen. It was weird and reminded him of eyes that many adults held, and he could also notice that there seemed to be a determination in her, confidence in herself rather than being cowed by the three boys yelling at her.

"Hey! Who do you think you are? This is Itachi Uchiha you know!" The light brown-haired boy exclaimed while she raised an eyebrow.

"So?" Her high-pitched child voice held a hint of amusement as she tilted her head in question. "Why should it matter to me who he is?" Her lack of awe or embarrassment at what they said caused them to splutter in surprise as most girls would suddenly become shy or try to win said boy's attention. This even surprised Itachi for this wasn't the reaction that he was expecting.

"W-Well he is-"

"Ah, there you are Yume-chan! Oh did you finally make some friends?" A teacher interrupted the boy as he patted the girl, who he now knew was named Yume, on her head. She appeared irritated as he did that action but didn't voice her complaints. "No, Yusa-sensei. We are not friends, and was there something you needed sensei?"

The dark-haired teacher sighed as he glanced at the boys amused. "Not friends? But look at you, you'd all make the best of friends I think." He stated clearly pushing her to say or do something. At her deadpanned stare Itachi could guess this was something that had become routine for her. It was a bit odd since teachers shouldn't be showing favoritism unless they might be related?

"Ah fine, fine. Here. I was told to give you this." He stated as he handed her a folder before he turned to look at the boys. "Ah, you four should run along to class now, lunch is about to end soon. I'm sure Taro-sensei won't be too happy if you all are late, right?" At that the three boys in front of Itachi eye's widened as they soon ran towards the class, it wouldn't do good for Itachi's self-appointed new friends to be late to class all the time. Itachi could only go along helplessly before glancing briefly back towards the odd girl in curiosity, and wonder why it felt as she seemed to regard herself differently from the rest of them.

He could even tell as he glanced back that of the older children in the hallway seemed, to gaze at her with a bit of scorn or smugness in their eyes. She, however, didn't appear to care as her gaze was on the contents of the file in her hand.

It wasn't until one of the boys was recounting to a fellow classmate of theirs what had occurred between a small break during class, or rather his version of the events which differed from the reality of the situation.

"And then she treated Itachi as if he was someone that didn't exist can you believe that? Who does that little brat think she is?"

"Ah, are you talking about a brown-haired girl, her hair short messy and always wearing plain brown clothing that looks baggy on her? She's kinda small and usually working on a paper or reading? Her name is also Yume I think?" A dark-green haired girl asked as she eavesdropped on the conversation.

"Well I don't know what she does but yeah her name was that." He grouched as he crossed his arms. "Are you a friend of her or something?"

"Hm? No way, it's just my big sister is in her class and usually, complains that it's not fair that she studies and studies but never makes it top of the class because she always gets perfect scores most of the time and apparently really strong and fast. From what my sister says a lot of the teachers says she's a genius or something like that. Never really talks to anyone much either in class, outside of their sensei that is. And that apparently she's a civilian orphan so that makes her more amazing to them that she can do all that much."

The boy snorted. "You're kidding, right? There's no way she's better than Itachi?"

"Hey, I'm just saying what my sister said and well, you're right. No one is better than Itachi-kun." She said that last part with a blush and giggled as she glanced at him. Itachi though was pretending he wasn't eavesdropping as he stared at his journal. Intrigued at the thought that there could be someone else like him. Someone that thought all the school work was easy and could do it with no problem.

The door opened and their sensei walked in, returning from the staff room judging by the papers he had in hand. Itachi sighed inwardly, another round of work that he'd get through quickly it seems. Although, maybe when he saw Shisui later he can talk about the odd girl, wondering if she was like him. Shisui would probably be intrigued by this as well.

* * *

Yume felt like slamming her head on the table repeatedly the longer the class lecture continued. Kenjiro was nice and a good teacher that knew his material but the monotone voice he used during his before exam lectures made it difficult for her not to fall asleep. Her fellow classmates thought the same as most of them were asleep or nodding off, except for a few that were diligently taking notes.

It was obvious to her that their sensei was not looking forward to the exams, or to be more exact the paperwork that would result from the exams. She could sympathize, god knows how much paperwork all of them as guardians had done before each word started becoming squiggles and black blobs. She sighed as she continued writing notes halfheartedly. This would be a cause to worry back home since she might miss any details for the exam but she had already covered this subject material a few weeks ago. Just like all the course work as of late.

It just made her wonder why they didn't just move her up a grade further or even let her advance as quickly as she could at her own pace. Although, at the pace she was going at let her keep up her pacing in improving her current skill set at a reasonable pace without overexerting herself and remaining on top academically. Still, she knew she would be hitting a wall eventually, hand to hand combat wasn't her forte, and while she won't be neglecting on improving it while she remains here, working up her aim and long-range skills back to her original level was a must.

"-and so the…"

'Someone shoot me please.' Yume thought as time seemed to pass at a snail's pace in her last period class. At this point, she might even consider taking a surprise training session from Lal, or even a training session surprise from Reborn for Tsuna that ended up involving each guardian in one form or another. Anything to cancel out the mind numbness from this lecture.

* * *

"Yo! Yume-chan!" A cheerful voice called out to her from her place under a tree in the most secluded area at orphanage courtyard. Yume glanced in the direction of the familiar voice before resuming her focus on the book Yusa-sensei had given to her, 'How to make friends 101'. She would like to say he had given it to her as a joke, but given the way he had been hinting and pushing her to make a few friends in the academy, it wasn't. She was stubborn and resolute about not establishing such relationships but she'd humor him at least by reading the book. It was _interesting_ , to say the least.

"Hm?" She heard Izumi fake gasp, as she began to speak in fake astonishment. "What's this? Is my little uncute kohai, finally starting to take interest in making friends? Aw~ You're finally becoming cute and adorable aren't you?" She was then hugged and her cheeks pinched as she let the older girl do as she pleased. It was just easier to allow her that freedom than to fight and with Izumi's personality would increase in how she would tease her. Which would only make her uncomfortable.

Back home, she never allowed anyone or had anyone close to her who would act like that towards her as a child. It wasn't as if she didn't have friends either, she had fun and played lots of games with her classmates then. However, things had been different, things changed, and then…she. Yume snapped that train of thought as she gave a pointed stare at Izumi who finally let go of her cheeks with a smug grin. "So, how's the book? Do you think you're ready to go make friends now?"

Yume rolled her eyes as she closed the book. "Enlightening, and no. I'm not about to go make friends, it's just something my sensei gave. He's not being very subtle at his attempts at making me socialize with my peers and make 'friends'."

At this Izumi gave a mock sage look. "Ah, I see. This makes complete sense, the Yume-chan I know would never get a book like that." Yume childishly stuck out her tongue at her as Izumi snorted. "Brat."

"Meh."

"You're not even going to deny it?"

"Too troublesome."

"Oi. Don't start going all Nara on me! I had one as a partner once for class and it drove me up the wall with his lack of motivation to do the work. Sure, we got the work done and got a good grade, but I had to fight tooth and nail for him to do his part!" She grumbled as she crossed her arms with a huff. Yume gave a small smirk at that as she observed the older girl. She had grown some more it seemed, her figure starting to resemble more of a young woman than an awkward child, and a new scar near her eye too.

"It's been a long while since I last saw you. I see you got taller." She observed as Izumi nodded.

"Well duh. I'm a growing girl, and I see you still haven't grown an inch. You're still so small." She patted Yume on her head Yume felt her fingers twitch at the mention of her size. "And yeah, it has been a long while. Missions have kept me busy, add that to all the irritating missions with a few idiots…anyways. I brought along what I promised to give you like what two years ago maybe?" Izumi questioned as she opened a scroll and with a poof summoned a small box appeared in her hand.

"About." Yume agreed as she took the box that was given to her, gazing at it curiously and resisting the urge to shake it lightly. "What's in it?" Izumi smirked.

"Open it and you shall see."

Carefully she opened it as Izumi grinned widely in anticipation, and when she looked inside she could see that it was a brand new brown leather pouch, along with the standard amount of kunai and shuriken that they should have in the academy. Gingerly picking up a kunai she noted the sharp edge to them rather than being blunted like her training ones were.

At her lack of many expressions, Izumi pouted. "You don't like it?" She asked a hint of disappointment in her voice. Yume shook her head as she gave the older girl a grateful smile. "No, I like them. I just wasn't expecting you to give me something so practical is all. Maybe you'd have given me a book like sensei or an accessory." And she did, goodness knows how much this girl pointed out to her that she needs more colors variations in her clothing. Of which she didn't disagree but she could deal with her choice of fashion when it became a priority. Which would be never given what she was aiming for.

"I don't know whether I should be offended or not." Yume shrugged. "Hm…anyways speaking of accessories have you thought about getting a band to tie your hair up, it's…very messy." Izumi bluntly stated as her gaze turned to the messy mound of hair on top of bluntly stated as her gaze turned to Yume's tousled hair. "Or have you even combed it at all?" Yume merely shrugged again.

"I have, but because it's short after training it gets likes this and I don't bother to fix it till after my bath." She responded as she put away the weapons in the pouch carefully pushing away the warm feeling she got when the older girl decided to ruffle her hair and make it messier.

"If you keep this up, you'll never get any boys to like you. Especially with that attitude of yours but then again…some guys are into very weird things." Izumi mused as Yume gazed at her blankly, not even wanting to know what she was referring to.

"It's fine, I'm much too young to be trying to get a boy to like me and even then, I'd not want to." She muttered while grimacing at the thought. She was actually older than she appeared and just the mere thought of going out with these kids when they were older made her feel gross. Of course, it'd never happen but even then, no. Just no.

"Mhm~ You say that now but in the future~" She trilled evilly, and Yume could just see her cackling like a mad woman inside her head. She rolled her eyes as Izumi then laid next to her under the tree, with the warm afternoon breeze there only other company at this moment. " You'll eat your words someday Yume-chan~ Mark my words."

She didn't say anything, not wanting to feed the flames any more than she has already. "Oh! That's right, speaking of boys I hear you got yourself a rival and a cute one at that. Ah, it could be a great plot point for a romance. Two rivals, falling in love but social status and opposition from many sides keeping them apart Yet that doesn't stop them from secretly loving one another and one day when they both confess it is announced that the heir has a fiancé. Oh, the drama!" Izumi exclaimed dramatically as she waved her arm comically.

Yume gave her a disgusted look. Honestly, what was with her and romance, specifically about her. "Okay, one, those are just rumors about us being rivals. In all honesty, we have never even spoken to one another let alone even compete against each other. Two, that is way too cliché."

"Ah but I see you didn't refute my claim about being in love, or finding it cute." Izumi turned on her side to grin widely at the exasperation emanating from Yume.

"Given everything I have said it's obvious I hold no such feelings, and while I admit he's cute," Izumi snorted as she said this. "He's cute in the ways most kid's that age are-"

"But Yume-chan you're not cute and you're younger than him." Was the sing-song interjection she got as she was interrupted. She continued as if Izumi never spoke out. "but that doesn't mean I like him. No. Just. No." She stated with the obvious disgust evident on her face and Izumi wanted to continue on teasing the younger girl but felt that she was getting tired of this and fast, so she held back. She could always continue some other day.

"Hm…Okay. Moving on," She waved her hand as she rested back and stared at the slowly moving clouds in the orange colored sky. "Keep on doing your best then." At the, 'of course, I will' expression that settled on Yume's face at the change of subject she felt a warmth settle inside her. She knew that she was the only person that really got this much out of the usually reserved girl, and was the closest person to her at all. In a way, it felt as if they were family. Especially when she nestled next to her gazing at the orange tinted sky with sadness and longing in them.

 _Really, she was the only one that ever saw this side of her. She had wormed a place inside the other girl and that really made her happy._

'Maybe…once things get better and if I can. We can actually become family, and be sisters.' Izumi thought as they cloud gazed until dusk in peaceful, comfortable silence.

 **M: And I'm done…finally! I got this finished! It took a long while but with my schedule now, I think I can definitely have more time than last semester to write, so Yay! Also, Itachi and Yume finally meet. ^^ I changed things from the original about how they meet and all, and I watched the Naruto Shippuden episodes about Itachi as a kid so I got inspired to write this.**

 **Hm, it should be mentioned this will be au in some aspects due to Yume being there so yeah…things will change but not anything major yet. Oh, and if anyone has noticed that Fran has been put as the other character, that's because he will appear just not yet. But he will be part of the story just like the first one.**

 **Also! Another thing I wanted to mention on this especially since I tend to be really forgetful when saying things and then end up remembering that I wanted to say later, is that to all the previous followers and favorites in the original I owe a lot to them. Especially animagirl who gave a lot of suggestions in the original. So for them, I'd like to say thank you!**

 **And thank you guys who have decided to read my fanfic and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.**

STORY RECCOMMENDATION: Siren By: 3VAMM3

She was never a fighter. Never a soldier. Never a savior nor a mercenary. But in this life, in this second chance she has been graced with, she can be a hero.

can be a hero.

Rated T English - Humor/Adventure - Izuku M., Toshinori Y./All Might, Katsuki B., OC

This is really good, and gah! I can't help but be captivated by the writing and the story.


	6. Chapter 6

**M: I don't own KHR or Naruto.**

 **Ch. 6**

* * *

Taking a deep breath, steeling her resolve, Yume stepped forward as she approached the lonesome boy beneath a dense group of trees. It was convenient, she thought, that the other boys were nowhere to be seen for now. It made this a lot easier and less public. Especially with the commotion they would cause with their blatant dislike towards her. She had heard many unpleasant conversations about her from her underclassman, mostly the girls and a few boys who admired the Uchiha boy. Perhaps they thought that she would become hurt by their words and blatant ostracization whenever her sensei forced her to go outside and try to mingle with them. However, she didn't care, she was an adult in a child's body, _her body_ , and she didn't need the attention many sought from their peers at this age.

 _Besides, it's not as if they are the important people in her life. They never will be._

As she drew near the boy shifted his gaze from the sky towards her, shifting from thoughtful to observant. Her mouth felt dry, as a sudden wave of nervousness and reluctance coursed through her, making every step she took feel heavy as if weighed down by lead. At this she silently berated herself for feeling so silly, this wasn't such a difficult thing to do! All it was, was just going to ask and talk to a child after all. It wasn't hard at all and yet when she was standing in front of him all she could do was stand there in silence, her mouth refusing to cooperate with her.

As she stood there, the young boy's gazed at her in question, coolly observing her in silence, and was that a hint of amusement? Upon a closer look, no emotion flickered in his cool, dark eyes as she kept her gaze steady.

'Ah, no. I must have been imagining it.' She thought after a while, as she unconsciously relaxed and her mouth finally decided to cooperate with her. "Uchiha-san, I-ah I…" She paused for a bit collecting herself and bowed in greeting. "My name is Yume from the Yuhi orphanage, and I wanted to request a favor from you." At his silent prompt to go on, she quickly added. "It's nothing much or difficult but I'd like to request a sparring match with you. That is if you have the time or…" She unconsciously crossed her arms and clenched her hands as she kept her gaze on the boy. Gah! Why was this so difficult! "Whenever you do have it." She finished the last part quietly.

The boy tilted his head slightly, never once speaking as he appeared to consider her request. After a moment of deliberation, he finally spoke, in a clear tone, despite the childish pitch of it. "I do not mind...Yume-san?" He gave her a look of question at addressing her that way, given her lack of surname, unless she wanted to be addressed using the name of the orphanage. Although very few children actually liked using that to address one another, at least the ones that didn't know their parentage or had one when they became orphans, since then many children would have the same surname to go by. She gave him a nod as he continued. "I have some spare time this afternoon, so it can be today."

'Ah, that's faster than I hoped but it works!' She thought in happiness as a smile bloomed on her face. Of course, she'd have to push back on her chores and homework a bit but that didn't matter. She could just speed through them if need be, it's not as if most of her homework was time consuming most of the time.

"That work's just fine! Ah." She exclaimed eagerly and then caught herself, she pushed back the feeling of embarrassment for getting too , the boy seemingly ignored her rather loud response as he gave her a polite smile. "Then this afternoon it is Yume-san." He then bowed in greeting. "I am Itachi Uchiha, please refer to me by my given name." He then left it at that as he returned to eating his food in peace.

Yume blinked but took the hint after he introduced himself. It was different from normal customs of introductions but she did introduce herself outside of the norm too. Still referring to him by his given name was something she didn't expect he would permit given that they were complete strangers and him being from a prominent clan. 'Hm...well it doesn't really matter I suppose. He must have a reason but I don't think he'll disclose on that. Best to focus on the spar then, now what is it that he'll do...' She hummed to herself in thought, not looking back towards the boy. Her thoughts centered only the upcoming spar and possible scenarios that could happen and what she could do to counter. Of course, in reality, nothing goes according to plan all the time but having something planned always helps in sticky situations.

* * *

As the final afternoon class started Itachi kept his gaze towards the window, lost in thought. Which wasn't that out of the norm since most of the material he already knew, but he did at least feign interest, in order to show his teacher some respect, attention to the lecture going on. However, today he was more preoccupied on the upcoming spar with that girl.

It would be a different experience than when he sparred with his father and cousin. He didn't doubt, that it would not be as difficult as it was with them given her background. However, she was supposed to be the other prodigy in the academy, and from a civilian background no less. This fact was what led him to accept her request, it was to measure the differences between them. He didn't dislike the girl and didn't enjoy violence but to reach his dream someday, it wouldn't hurt to measure himself against someone supposedly equal to him.

"-tachi! Uchiha Itachi!" He was brought out of his thoughts by his sensei yelling his name, the whole classroom watching in silence as Itachi turned towards his sensei. His expression never once giving away the startled feeling he got. Taro-sense was frowning, looking at him with concern.

"Yes, Taro-sensei?" Itachi asked his voice quiet but clear. His sensei's frown deepened before sighing. "While I'm aware this might be boring Uchiha-kun, I expect you to be respectful and pay attention. Is that understood?" His voice was stern as he gave Itachi a disappointed look.

"Hai, I apologize Taro-sensei." Itachi responded, his face not showing an inch of embarrassment or guilt.

After a brief moment of silence and the students giving rapt attention to them, his sensei sighed. "Alright, do not let this happen again. Now please answer this question Uchiha-san." His sense pointed to the question on the board and Itachi firmly kept his mind from wandering towards the spar that would happen soon.

"The answer would be…"

* * *

Yume raised an eyebrow as she could hear the gaggle of girls swooning and voicing concern towards the Uchiha boy, who was surrounded by them. His expression was polite and if you weren't looking closely enough you'd miss on the fact that he was uncomfortable with them. This wasn't an odd occurrence by now but it certainly hadn't become any less surprising how loud these girls could become or their early interests in romancing a boy that hadn't even hit puberty yet.

She clicked her tongue at that, her obvious dislike towards their actions apparent for the world to see. No doubt if Izumi was there she'd be poking fun at her right now or making a comment about how her expression was unsightly while adding how she'll know the wonders of love soon. Then she won't have any place to talk about how these girls are acting.

An uncomfortable feeling rose up at that, her face falling a bit. While she never acted like them, she does know what it is like to love someone but her love is unrequited. She would never tell that person her feelings, despite the fact that many might already know where her affections lie but had enough tact to never mention it out loud. She quickly composed herself as she realized that she was not alone at the moment and a more pressing event would be happening soon. This was no time to start dwelling on those feelings when she should keep her focus on her goal. Thankfully she did not have to approach the Uchiha heir as when he saw her he started to leave ahead, silently cueing her to follow him.

This could have been construed as rude but if they walked off together his fangirls would make too much of a fuss about it and/or start harassing her as how little kids would. Which wasn't terrible but these were shinobi and kunoichi in training so this was actually a better option. It would prevent too much hassle befalling on her. Without giving away that she was following the boy, she walked a ways behind him, feigning interest in the shops around her.

Thankfully, most of his fangirls had been picked up by their parents or loved the boy enough that they didn't want to disturb him when he wanted some peace, such a thing might change in the future if their affection ever became extreme to the point of them stalking him. Now that will truly be unsettling.

As she discreetly followed the boy she began to notice that they had walked quite far from the academy so far and realized she never asked where they were going to spar. If she was not paying attention to where she was going, she'd get lost on the way back. Not to mention, Yume had never forgotten the warning Izumi had given her about those rumors and she had always made certain she was never alone, even if she was left out of activities or conversations by her fellow students from the orphanage she never was by herself. She pursed her lips at that, then she'd have to get back before it got dark, and avoid any shady areas. She'd probably have to run back then, and with the uncertainty of how long this spar might go on, it would be tiresome.

 _Tiresome, yes. But she'd had worse._

As she continued to mentally map her way she barely registered, as they neared a rather large compound area, the residence of the Uchiha Clan indicated by the Uchiwa symbol design on the walls, that the boy had slowed down his pace a little for her to catch up. She briefly glanced at him as he kept an impassive face once she was just a few paces behind him before returning to taking notes of the twists and turns they were taking. She frowned a bit. This would be more difficult of navigating around it seemed.

Another issue that deepened her frown for a short while was that she could sense that they were being followed. Their chakra level indicating they were at least low-genin yet she couldn't help but feel that it was being suppressed. However, given those other chakra signatures passed by that would have been Chunin and Jonin levels inside the compounded areas suggested that this person was one of their own or a trusted person of the Uchiha clan. She relaxed slightly once she came to that realization and returned to giving her full attention to the path they were taking, ignoring the pair of eyes clearly observing her.

Soon the scenery changed from roads, and houses to a multitude of trees, and a barely noticeable trail. It wasn't long then that a small clearing came into view and the boy turned to face her.

"We'll spar here." Was all he said as he made his way further into the clearing, not giving her any time to respond. She followed him without saying a word, not bothered by how brief he was.

"Uchiha-san,...ah forgive me." She corrected herself. "Itachi-san, would it be fine if for this spar we forgo just limiting ourselves to the rules applied in the academy? The first one to incapacitate the other wins." She knew her manner of speech was odd but she couldn't help it. Despite the fact that she had become accustomed to her change in age, talking like a child wasn't. Thankfully the supposed status of 'prodigy' gave her some leeway in this, it still must be unnerving to many.

Itachi gave a nod, after briefly thinking about it. "Alright then. " He turned to face her once they were in the center of the clearing, then both of them made the seal of confrontation. After that, both jumped back and got into a defensive stance. Neither moved, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Yume narrowed her eyes, while she had said they shouldn't just go with the standard academy spar rules neither wanted to show their full hand in one go. She bit her lip as a few minutes passed by, she would not be the first to give in, and she wasn't because just a minute later Itachi made the first move by throwing a volley of shuriken in her direction quickly.

She dodged to the left as the weapons whizzed by her and lodged themselves into the ground deeply. Taking note of this she kept her eyes on the boy as another flurry of shuriken were aimed towards her as he reached the area she once stood, once again dodging she moved out of the way creating a small cloud of dust to hide in which direction she had moved to. She wasn't the only one who used this to their advantage as she soon felt Itachi's chakra seemingly duplicate. Her eyes widened a bit as she had read about that advanced technique.

'Shadow clone? Since when did he learn this?' She briefly asked herself before pushing the questions to the back of her mind, focus on the spar, ask questions later. She kept her face neutral not giving away that she realized what he had done as she struck towards the boy. Keeping in mind that one of them was hiding in the trees.

She aimed a strike towards his arm, kunai in hand as it was blocked by another kunai. She narrowed her eyes as the boy didn't give any indication of emotion at the moment. She then aimed a low kick towards the boy but it again was blocked. Retreating quickly as his hand reached to grasp her and throw her towards the ground.

 _Strike. Block. Strike. Block._ The cycle continued with her going on the offensive but each attack countered by the other. This wasn't good, if this kept up she wouldn't last much longer. Yume could feel a bead of sweat fall down her face, as she gritted her teeth finally leaping away before volleying a flurry of kunai of her own this time. Each shuriken missing by a few centimeters of their target as Itachi moved away swiftly. 'This would be different if I could actually use my own weapons.' The thought resounded at the back of her mind as she blocked a hit aimed at her arm. She back away again, trying to create some distance between them as he followed, aiming another flurry of shuriken at him, being mindful not to use up all her ammo.

As she blocked a kick with her forearm she quickly shifted her position a bit, as the clone finally took the moment to strike, aiming an elbow strike towards the clones ribs on instinct just as it made a reach towards her arms. This momentarily surprised Itachi, and she took her chance to retaliate.

Unfortunately for her, he recovered quickly and in the short amount of time her kunai would have slashed his cheek, he disappeared in a flurry of leaves as it struck the wood. She mentally cursed. He clearly knew some jutsus already while she was scheduled to begin on them next week, just under supervision at the beginning. This hadn't made her happy but given her background and Izumi's warning that she had kept somewhat in mind, she never allowed herself to press further about learning jutsu quickly. Despite this, she had been tempted to so, even though she had taken some precaution to not arouse suspicion that she was not an actual child. As this was a shinobi village, it was not out of the realm of possibility that they could find out somehow that she wasn't quite right and she wasn't quite right and they could end her. Which was the worst thing that could happen.

With the fact in mind that he knew some jutsus already, it wasn't wrong to speculate he knew a few others. She pursed her lips as she narrowed her eyes as she cautiously surveyed her surroundings. 'Tch. This is not easy, but then again I wasn't expecting it to be.' She grinned inwardly at this fact; she sensed his chakra to the back of her, and she idly noticed as well that their spectator's chakra had spiked a little before calming down. She feigned ignorance as to where Itachi was and kept her hands to her sides seemingly relaxed while keeping a frown on her face.

* * *

Itachi frowned as he observed her, hidden behind a thicket. He hadn't expected her to respond so quickly to his clone. He had made certain she hadn't caught sight of it, when it had leaped off, waiting only if it was necessary to make a move. So far this was more difficult than he had expected and different as she had not used any jutsus so far. He had hoped by at least showing the kawarami she'd be more open to showing her own use of jutsus as well. Yet she hadn't and only dodged, her speed and reflexes exceeding his own by some amount.

However, there was another thing he had noticed, while her moves were accurate and precise in hand to hand combat, she seemed to favor attacking from afar and her moves didn't have enough strength as they should. Not only that but after each block, her arms began to shake slightly from the shock, and at this rate, would be hurt enough that her long-range attacks would be rendered useless.

However this wasn't the only thing he had to keep in mind, she was also quite fast and so her speed could help her keep out of his grasp if she figured out what was happening. She might be able to avoid him long enough until he became worn out. Turning the tide to her favor.

He narrowed his eyes a bit in thought. He didn't want to show all he had right now but he might have to do that. He briefly glanced in the direction where Shisui sat. The older boy was glancing at him amused, and Itachi frowned slightly. Shisui will probably question about this impromptu spar later, as he usually lets Shisui know when something interesting comes up. Such as when he brought on the subject of his supposed 'rival'.

Glancing back towards said girl she was gazing around seemingly relaxed, but her eyes gave away her cautiousness, glancing around and seemingly lingering for just a split second longer on where Shisui was but that could have been just coincidence.

 _One must never underestimate your opponents Itachi. Remember that son. Failure in on doing so can cost you._

His father's words rang in his mind as he continued his observation. For now, he should stand back and watch her next move. With that in mind, his hands began to make seals.

* * *

She jumped up as soon as what she could assume was a shadow clone attacked, throwing a few shuriken down, since the other chakra signature of Itachi remained behind her. As she looked she noticed that he wasn't alone, there were other clones there. However, these she couldn't sense a chakra signature, so they were just regular clones. She mentally cursed as she landed and avoided tried to move out of the way of the thrown weapons. However this time, she couldn't avoid them completely as a few grazed her arms and legs.

She could focus on which Itachi was the real one based on his chakra but weapons were different if she couldn't look closely enough and he wasn't giving her any time as the barrage of weapons continued. She gritted her teeth, as she tried to get close to the Itachi with a chakra signature but it was no use and she could see she was being backed into a corner. Not only were the false weaponry annoying and confusing, she couldn't help herself from becoming distracted sometimes as a clone passed through her. Her body now wasn't used to these situations, even if her mind was, it instinctively reacted in moving out of the way.

'No wonder he's hailed as a prodigy.' She thought as she noticed she was beginning to tire. With this going on, the match would end shortly. If only she could use her box weapons, this would be different, if only in the short term. 'He's good and it's fucking scary. If he can do this now, what will he be able to do in the future?' Okay, so there was still the point that he was a kid so what they were doing now wasn't overly impressive but still, she was an adult in a child's body with more actual fighting experience than this kid. Yes, that experience may be worthless now since her body doesn't react like it should but still, it should count for something.

She continued to try and avoid the attacks some of the clones began to throw weaponry again while the others, along with the what she thought was the original began to engage in close combat. She did her best to just focus on the Itachi with solid form, but like before her body sometimes moved by instinct, and so she left openings. And it was just that that did her in, as she soon felt thin arms wrap around her arms and throw her to the ground, pinning her as the feel of cool metal pressed against the skin of her neck.

As she looked up, panting hard, she saw the puzzled look on his face as he frowned, seemingly a bit dissatisfied as he removed the kunai from her neck. "It's my win."

She sighed as she recovered and nodded tiredly. "Yes, it is." She noticed that he seemed a bit unhappy as she said so. She got up and grimaced as the sting from her cuts became more prominent now that the fight was over. As she looked at her clothes she could see that it was a bit bloody and very much cut beyond repair in some places. Sighing again, she looked towards Itachi. "Thank you very much for the spar." She made a seal of reconciliation, he did the same, albeit frowning with his brows furrowed.

"...Yume-san?" He asked as moved her hand back.

"Ah, yes?"

"Something is bothering me...why did you not use any jutsu? Moreover, you are able to sense chakra correct?"

She raised a brow, hiding her surprise at his last question, and then her brows furrowed. 'Was it so obvious in a fight that I can sense it? Maybe I should work more on not making it so obvious then…' She stood there looking at him seriously before she responded.

"The answer is simple Uch- Itachi-san." She corrected herself again. "I don't know any for now." She shrugged as she said this. "I'll begin lessons on the academy three next week. As for sensing...yes. I can, and have so for a while now." The last part was a lie, she had begun from the first moment she appeared here, but it was only until recently that she had been more sensitive and experimenting with how far she could sense it.

"Why? Shouldn't you have started a long time ago? You're supposed to be advanced like me." He asked bluntly again and her lips quirked up in amusement. He was a curious one on top of being highly intelligent. Something that makes sense, since, with a thirst for knowledge, a strong sense of curiosity will also come along with it.

"Well," She started as she moved, ignoring the protest her body sent her, as she began to pick up the weapons that might be hers. She frowned inwardly at this, it will be a pain to figure out whose was whose. "As a civilian born child, what is expected of me to complete at a time is different. Yes, they are still challenging me but I expect they are also monitoring just how well I grasp things with timed intervals of presenting new materials to me. What they expect from a child born into shinobi parents or a prominent shinobi clan can be quite different. You all have an advantage, as you all are expected to know certain things already, or have access to certain information we aren't allowed to yet. Not to mention training in your own specialized styles or even more practice with different instructors that give you undivided attention."She finished matter of factly as she continued her task. Oh boy, was she glad that these were mostly blunt weapons but they still could cut. Goody, she'd have to put disinfectant ointment. Joy.

* * *

He frowned, a barely noticeable one as he observed her. "It doesn't make you mad then?" He could not sense or hear any resentment in her voice as she spoke. Most kids, he had noticed when overhearing some conversations, when they talked about clan kids complained how it was unfair or that they were lucky. They had older shinobi parents or relatives to go to and help them out a lot. Yet, her demeanor showed nothing of that and as he followed suit in picking up the weapons, observing her she took her loss in stride. No anger, no sadness, perhaps some disappointment but she mostly expressed an air of calm acceptance.

"Hm...Not really. Sure you have an advantage, but just having an advantage doesn't make you the best out of everyone. Besides, there's no point in being mad over something you have no control of."

He paused. That was probably the most mature thing he had heard someone around his age ever say. Not only that but it made sense. They remained silent as they finished cleaning up before returning the other's weaponry that they had in their own piles. His are of a higher standard quality he had noticed and he glanced towards where Shisui was watching them.

"Well, then Itachi-san. Thank you for today, I have learned a lot from today." She bowed in gratitude to him and he bowed back.

"It was a pleasure Yume-san." To his surprise, he actually meant it. This had been different than he thought it would be. Not to mention she didn't fawn over him or make this an excuse to get closer to him. In fact, when he talked with her it was calming in its own way, it felt like they might get along.

However, he didn't know if they would ever speak again for a long while since no one broached the topic. He felt unsure of how to bring this up. Thankfully for him, he didn't have to as Shisui appeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Yo! Itachi-chan, I'm surprised to see you here with a friend." He feigned being surprised as he gave a grin to him in amusement. "Oh my, don't you two look beat. Did you guys do some extreme training or something?" He could see that Yume's mouth quirked as Shisui said extreme. Odd. Why would that be funny but what Shisui was true upon closer inspection. While he had avoided all her attacks, he had had to block some and the sensation of when the first shadow clone was hit left an impression on his mind. The force behind them might not have been as strong as they should have but by blocking them his arm would be littered with bruises. Which wasn't something new.

However, Yume would be littered with bruises and light cuts, and even now small trickles of dried blood were on her person from those cuts. She noticed his gaze and she raised an eyebrow. He didn't say anything.

"What? Not going to say anything? Either of you? At least introduce me to your," Shisui paused as a teasing glint appeared in his eyes. " _Girlfriend_ Itachi-chan." Itachi sighed as he resisted the urge to bury his head in the palm of his hand. He should have known Shisui would do this.

* * *

Yume gave a strained grin as her polite expression to the older boy, who was the one that had been following them it seems, threatened to morph into one of irritation. 'That is something Izumi would say...and I am not liking this one bit.' Like hell, she would be a little kids girlfriend. What was up with kids these days and romance.

"Shisui...she's not my _girlfriend_. This is Yume-san from the Yuhi orphanage, a fellow academy student, she's a second year." Itachi said tiredly, as he glared at the older boy. 'Oh, so his name is Shisui huh? Judging by the symbol on his back must be a close family member. Maybe an older brother perhaps? Although, I never heard about an older brother...then again when do I really pay attention to what most of the kids say. Surely, the girls might have talked about him at some point, since he doesn't look that much older to have been out of the academy for long.' She thought as she observed the older boy and as he felt her gaze on him he gave her lopsided grin. "It's rude to stare you know Yume-chan~"

"...Forgive me, Uchiha-san. As Itachi-san has said, my name is Yume, and I come from the Yuhi orphanage seated in the northern district. It is a pleasure to meet you." She bowed a bit in apology as his tone reminded her faintly of a certain marshmallow loving man that took time to visit unexpectedly from time to time. However, faint the similarity was, it was clear this boy wasn't anything like him though.

"No worries, no worries. Also please call me Shisui-senpai. Uchiha-san makes me sound so old and stuffy."

"...Shisui-san then." She said. She was not calling him, a boy younger than her senpai. Her adult pride had already taken enough beating since she first got here, no need to beat it further.

"Aww, I was really hoping for senpai. C'mon please call me Shisui-senpai." He playfully begged, and unexpectedly ruffled her hair. She schooled her face, preventing the pout from showing on her face. What was it with people and ruffling her hair?

"...I'm sorry, but I'll refer to you as Shisui-san."

He gave an exaggerated sigh. "Fine, fine. Call me that as you like but really I didn't expect for Itachi-chan to bring a friend. He never even told me he made a new friend."

"Ah...well….We're not friends...I mean today was the first time we ever talked, so it would be more accurate to say we're...peers?" Her eyebrows furrowed in question. Shisui crossed his arms as he observed her in thought, while Itachi gave a nod. It would be a lie to say they were friends but given that he wasn't uncomfortable with her and her attitude towards him seemed more normal than the way other people treated him. The prospect of becoming friends was appealing in its own way; it'd be nice to have someone other than Shisui treat him like relatively normal.

"Hm...is that so?"

"Yes."

"I see...in that case I leave Itachi-chan in your care in the academy." He said as he patted her hair and slinked an arm around Itachi's shoulders. "I know he has some friends there but he could definitely use the company of someone else that gets him. He may not say so but I know he feels the same way. Please take care of him and on that note. I'll go let Mikoto-sama know you'll be a bit late as you walk her back Itachi-chan. Ja ne~"

She blinked in confusion. 'Wait what?' Just as she opened her mouth to make some sort of protest, that you can't just force someone to agree to this, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Leaving her and Itachi standing there in silence.

"..."

A very awkward silence descended on them and she didn't know what to say. How do you say that you don't agree or that it isn't right to force friendship upon people to someone that already left. Plus, she was certain that Itachi felt the same way. Who would want to be in a forced friendship right? It'll just be so awkward.

"Then...from now on I'll be in your care Yume-san." Itachi broke the silence as he looked at her stunned expression. "Please take care of me." He kept a straight face as he bowed.

"Wait- wait hold on! Don't just agree with everything he said!" She exclaimed in a panic. Friendship? With a kid about a decade younger than her? What was she supposed to do? Izumi didn't count since that had happened over time and she kind of just forced herself on her. In a way, she was like the sibling she had always wanted in some ways.

Itachi tilted his head slightly to the right; face serious but she could see hints of confusion in his eyes.

"I'm not."

"But don't you think it'll be awkward?"

"Maybe, but I do find your presence tolerable so a friendship wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility."

"It's too sudden!"

"I suppose everything has to start somewhere."

"This was forced."

"I'm not opposed to it, but if you do not wish to be friends I will not push the matter. Instead, I would at least like to be friendly acquaintances."

"I...that's not exactly how a little kid is supposed to talk...or take things for that matter." She muttered, ignoring his look that practically screamed 'as-if-you're-one-to-talk'. Somehow, she got the feeling Kenjiro-sensei would hear about this and practically shove her to interact with said boy. She got the feeling that older boy would steer the matter in that way one form or another. It would just become too troublesome to bother really.

She gazed back at the boy, thinking back towards the times she had observed him. He usually had a calm, reserved expression and air around him but at the same time, there was also a hint of loneliness too. Whether it was self-imposed or due to outside circumstances based on who he was, it was there, just a faint hint but still there nonetheless.

It reminded her of the time with a certain someone, who was always alone. No one there to help or rely on...and she had only ever watched for a long while. She bit her lip, blinking away the tears threatening to form in her eyes and the regret that welled up inside her. That was still a part of her she was working on forgiving even until this day after so many years of being friends. She looked away as the puzzled look she was given became more prominent. Even if it was similar, both their circumstances were different, that much was obvious.

She finally sighed, relenting to her situation. She had to admit this friendship could have its perks she mused, at least this way when she requested to spar it wouldn't be too embarrassing in doing so. All she would have to do is always keep some distance from him like she did with Izumi. A reminder that this friendship wasn't permanent, that she didn't belong here.

"Alright then...let's give this friendship a try…" She bowed as he had done so. "Then I will also be in your care. Please treat me well." As she looked up a small smile appeared on the boys face, and she couldn't help but give a small, smile of her own. Albeit with a hint of sadness. Would he have also been happy, to finally have a real friend during those times before he met the rest of his guardians. His first friends, his family…

She mentally shook her head, as the boy began to lead her back to the orphanage. There was nothing she could do to change the past. There really was no use of thinking about that now at this time either with them being so apart.

'Still...this friendship...Well...at least he's not too troublesome of a kid. Much less so than someone else I know.' An image of Izumi popped up in her mind as they walked on in silence. 'Besides, this won't be a troublesome friendship, right?'

 **M: That's it! I'm done! Done I say!...At least for this chapter. Honestly, I had to rewrite the beginning 3 time 3! And then school piled up so much too...I want to cry. But hey at least I finally got a new laptop again with a working keyboard. Which was why I was able to finish this now. Yes, I'm aware I could have used a school computer but I mostly did work on them, and when I'm with my friends I get too distracted to focus on writing. My other tablet I just use for drawing mostly now which thankfully that part works. So I spent quite a while drawing too...I think I got better.  
**

 **And on that note of writing. I'm sorry again for taking so long but I finished I finished this chapter at last! Also, a lot of changes than what I had originally outlined in this chapter and it still isn't at the part I wanted to get to yet...but I will not force creativity! I shall outline and go with whatever the creative juices flow.  
**

 **I do hope that everyone liked this chapter too.**

 **P.S. I know I'm rambling a lot, I'm tired. Sue me...okay don't. Really don't…**

 **P.P.S. Hey everyone that reviewed, and, followed, and faved. Thank you so much for being patient with me. Again when I get the time I'll post. However here's a sneak super small peek. Just the first part really, and wording and some parts might change but it'll be the gist of things.**

 _Okay, she was wrong. Completely, totally, wrong. This was more trouble than it's worth. Her right eyebrow twitched as she gazed at the messy scrawls of graffiti in her area of seating. What was this supposed to do intimidate her? Really, they should be far more creative.  
_

 **Story Recommendation:  
**

 **Extensions of an Echo**

 **By: Isafish**

 **Summary: Contrary to how SI-characters normally act, how many of us are actually willing to mess around with the Naruto plot? There are just too many things to go wrong, too many people to protect-too much guilt to carry.  
**

 **Naruto - Rated: T - English - Family/Drama - Chapters: 43 - Words: 91,166 - Reviews: 230 - Favs: 274 - Follows: 393 - Updated: Nov 5 - Published: Aug 23 - Sasuke U., OC**

 **I really like it so far, and it's interesting too. It's quite different from many that I have seen. If you haven't read it give it a try, please!**

 **Oh, and P.P.P.S.**

 **I might edit this if there are any errors, if there are some let me know if not I'll check it out when I can too...Thank you. Plus, as for why Yume lost, it would happen realistically in this situation given the disadvantage she was in, not to mention Itachi is extremely smart so I'd figure he would win even if Yume has had more experience. Still that experience amounts to nothing like this if she can't control her intincts and reflexes when it's crucial. I do hope in this fight it wasn't too off since fight scenes are still very difficult for me...**


	7. Chapter 7

**M: I don't own Naruto or KHR.**

 **Also fair warning this is unedited. So again just like the previous chapter I'll do that later, since finals are going to come up soon. I'll do that when I'm done and I have finished a request someone made.**

Ch.7

Okay, she was wrong. Completely, totally, utterly, wrong. This friendship was more trouble than it's worth. Her right eyebrow twitched as she gazed at the messy scrawls of graffiti in her area of seating, with what looked to be marker or paint. What was this supposed to do intimidate her? Really, they should be far more creative.

A lot of the children, namely the girls, made a ruckus the first time she had joined to eat lunch with Itachi. Not to mention his friends had looked on in disbelief when she sat down with them, they started to yell at her to leave but Itachi ended up explaining the situation. Sort of, in the end she had been the one to elaborate and while they still disliked her presence, they tolerated her since she was a friend of Itachi's. Still, she should not have forgotten the simple fact that the Uchiha had a legion of fangirls.

'It's ridiculous he's only like six years old, hormones shouldn't even start to kick in until they're at least twelve.' She sighed in exasperation, and she also noticed that there were quite a few classmates who snickered at her predicament discreetly. Or rather, as discreetly as they could manage. She looked up at the ceiling with a frown on her face, irritation bubbling at the fact she would have to wash this off, but she pushed it down.

While she stood there, her sensei walked in and noticed she was standing in front of her desk. Unusual, since she usually was the first one in her seat. Frowning, he called out to her. "Yume-chan, class is about to start. Please sit down."

She turned to look at her sensei. "Alright sensei, but may I know where the cleaning supplies are first?" There seemed to be a hint of resignation in her voice and her questioned caused him to raise an eyebrow. He also noticed that some of his students had a blank expression or were paying rapt attention to the conversation.

"Why do you ask Yume-chan?"

"Someone wrote graffiti where I usually sit sensei." He was slightly surprised, but he should have expected that sooner or later this was going to happen. The girl kept to herself mostly, and it seemed that it rubbed some of his students the wrong way. She meant no harm, but it still came off as her looking down on them. Not to mention, she had become friends with Itachi Uchiha recently, much to his surprise, and it seemed like most of the girls weren't happy about it. He couldn't do anything to prevent that and since they were shinobi in training they were expected to resolve their problems by themselves to a certain extent.

However, he could enforce consequences when they occurred in his class. With that in mind he scanned the sea of faces of his students, making note of their reactions. "Alright, I'll let you know where it is after class is over, you don't mind sitting there do you?"

"No sensei."

"Alright, then class will begin. However, I will say this right now. As future comrades, fellow shinobi and kunoichi, I expect better from all of you. You should not let your own personal, biases, towards a fellow comrade lead you to do pointless things such as this in order to hurt them. If I see, or catch any of you repeating what occurred right now to Yume-san to her or any of your other classmates there will be consequences." Most of the children stiffened at the thought of getting in trouble, and some of the few clan kids in her class had a sour, displeased on their faces, while the rest kept it in mind for a while before his warning left their mind as class began.

'It's not that the writing that bothers me, it's the fact I have to clean it up that makes me annoyed.' Was what she didn't say as she took her seat, ignoring the stare her seating mate gave her. He wasn't the only one as a few glanced in her direction.

Honestly, did they expect her to burst up in tears and cry? To be sad that they didn't like her? Maybe if she was a normal child then yes, she would have. However, she wasn't, and she had long stopped caring about what those irrelevant to her family thought about her. That is unless, it was a formal party or event, she usually kept a polite expression, and made sure to not insult anyone on purpose or by accident. She had an image to uphold, and her role was that of a professional. Never mind the fact that she was just barely an adult, that they were barely becoming accustomed to roles they would live by for many years to come.

 _I will serve you, and do everything I can to not bring shame upon your name, on us all. My life is yours, my loyalty solely belongs to you all._

Ah, it had been so long really since she had to do that since she rarely had to put on any airs. Would she still be able to do it as flawlessly as she could then? More than likely not since it had take a long while of practicing situations with Bianche and the rest of the girls aware of Tsuna's relation to the mafia. She grimaced as she bit the end of her pencil, lost in thought. She will have to practice again it seemed, since if Reborn caught wind that one of Tsuna's students wasn't up to par as they should be he would personally administer remedial courses to fix that. Let it be known, that he wasn't as lenient as he could be with Tsuna. In fact, Reborn enjoyed making it as difficult or as hellish as possible for any of them. Admittedly, it was effective and garnered amazing results, but it was hell.

 _If you aren't up to standard, then you aren't worth keeping as you are. However, since I'm here there's no need to worry about being disposed of. I'll make certain you won't bring shame to the reputation as one of Tsuna's guardians._

She could just picture the evil smirk on Reborn's face and she felt goosebumps rise on her arms with that mental image as his voice rang through her mind. She did not want to go through that hell. No, just no. That was one experience she would rather live without. It's not as if she was special, being whipped into shape by _Reborn,_ everything done was for the benefit of Tsuna, that is something she had realized from the very beginning. She admired that, his dedication towards tutoring Tsuna. Although she'd never admit that, Reborn would hold it over her in one form or another if she ever messed up.

 _Like you did, which is why you're in this mess._ A taunting voice whispered, of which she ignored it. Sighing mentally, she idly wrote down notes that her sensei was saying while also ignoring the bright colors of the graffitied words. She really wished she hadn't been so careless, if that had been the case she would not be in this situation at all.

'Ah, how I wish…'

* * *

'…I wish I was anywhere but here.' Yume thought as she could feel a migraine coming just from the presence of this group of girls. They seemed to be one of the more vocal and fierce fangirls that Itachi had. She had just finished putting away the cleaning supplies she had borrowed, her sensei having a teacher meeting, when these girls surrounded her.

"Hmph! So you're the one that got her grubby hands on Itachi-kun." A girl at least three years older than her spoke haughtily, with her arms crossed. She had brown hair, in a bobbed style, with freckles littering her rather pleasant looking face. Clearly, she was the ring leader.

'And you're just the typical stereotype third rate villainess in a shoujo manga.'

"Let me warn you, stay away from Itachi-kun! You're just being an eyesore to him, and you're breaking the rules. He's everyone's favorite and if anyone tries to get close to him they will face get what's coming to them. Everyone knows to not get ahead of themselves and become close."

Yume didn't say anything as she noticed the other girls nodding along with her, making sounds of agreement. She noticed some were around her supposed age, and had hair colors varying from dark brown to a light shade of blonde. They had an air of displeasure around them as they glared at her.

"Do you get it? Stay away from Itachi or your going to regret it." The girl snarled, contorting her pleasant like features. Yume didn't respond as she gave them a blank look.

"Oi! Say something or are you dumb?"

"I think she may be." One of the girls taunted.

"Yeah, I know. Supposedly Itachi-kun's rival. What a joke. No one is as good as Itachi-kun!" Another insulted before fangirling along with a few other's joining her. Becoming distracted from the original topic.

"Well?"

She continued to remain quiet as the other girl's anger continued to rise by her lack of response. She had hoped that once they said their rather short piece, they would leave but apparently they wouldn't. She let out an exasperated sigh, fueling the other girl's anger more, and causing the other girls to become interested again in what was going on.

"Who do you think you are? Do you think you're better than us and can do what you want? You stupid, ugly-"

"Please, stop. Just stop, this is just tiring." Yume interrupted, her voice cutting through the older girl's sentence.

"Who are you t-"

"I do not mean to be disrespectful, or rude" She cut in quickly, not wanting to let this continue. "This is just petty, which is why I said to stop. I do not have time to deal with such matters. If you wish to fangirl, love, or whatever you want to Itachi-san fine. Do what you want, but you can not order me on who I can or can't make friends with. Nor can you decide who becomes friends with him. That's his decision and by doing this you are basically disrespecting his autonomy."

The older girl spluttered as the girls gasped. How dare she talk back to them! Didn't she realize she was outnumbered? The group of girls looked towards the older girl wordlessly seeking advice on what they should do.

"Furthermore, if Itachi-san someday wishes to not be friends with me anymore and have no contact with me, that'll be his own decision. Not yours, or any of your other friends. Now if you'll excuse me, I have someplace to be."

The older girl's face turned a nasty shade of purple as Yume brushed past the group of girls. She had thought earlier of joining Itachi and his friends for lunch later, but after this incident she wasn't in a good mood to do so. Rather, she preferred to be in her usual spot in the classroom, studying or thinking about home.

Hurried footsteps, chased after her and Yume sidestepped when the girl was about to land a blow to the back her head. The girl pushed herself from the wall she had landed on and went for a side kick. The rest of the girls behind were just spectating, waiting for Yume to get beat up. However, this was not the case as Yume caught the girls leg and with the small moment of surprise from the girl, pinned her down from her arms and legs.

Yume glared, annoyance leaking out. "Look, as I said, this is petty and tiring. I do not have time to be dealing with your unwarranted jealousy. I have no interest in dating, much less falling in love with a kid. So, I hope you will stop this nonsense right now." She unconsciously channeled chakra into her arms and legs, causing more pressure to be applied in her grip of the girl, leaving small and like bruising in her arms. The older girl flinched at the pain and as she stared at the younger girl, she couldn't help but feel some fear. Those eyes, they didn't look like they belonged to the eyes of a child her frame."I hope you understand."

Yume let go and got up, leaving the group of girls in silence, unsure of what to do since their friend was laying there still, a disturbed and slightly scared look on her face.

"Re-Reiko-chan? Do you want us to…?"

"…No…No. I…We…won't do anything again today…"

"But why? She's just after Itachi-kun! Reiko-chan-"

"Look! There's just something not right about her!" Reiko shouted, leaving the girls again surprised. "There's just something not right, so…let's just leave it now. If…if she does try to do anything funny then we'll show her but for now let's just watch her carefully." She didn't sound so sure.

"I…okay…"

"Okay…"

* * *

Yume gazed up at the evening sky, a few stars beginning to dot it. The past few days had begun to be tiring for her. She just missed being in her world more than ever now.

After the incident with those girls, in which nothing major really happened, but rumors had spouted from it. Making worse comments about her and exaggerating about what happened that day. Most of the kids kept their distance, even more so than before. The only exception were some of her classmates and Itachi with his group of friends, but even her classmates avoided looking at her. Having heard the rumors his friends had bugged her for a while, and she gave them the rundown of what happened and the reason for it. Itachi had frowned at that, giving her an apologetic look, while his friends seemed annoyed. Why should it matter that she's friends with Itachi? At least she doesn't swoon or make loud noises along with weird faces when around him. They had found that despite her weirdness she wasn't that annoying. She merely shrugged it off as they were upset, fangirls would be fangirls when it came to the object of affection. There was no need to do anything else as it could only make everything worse. There was no need to change the way things had become, she would eventually become a passing if distant memory someday.

Her sensei, had even noticed, but since nothing had been done to her and her property, he couldn't do anything. All that could be done was leave it be, if rumors started so be it, she would have to solve the issue herself. However, she wouldn't. They could say what they wanted to say, she could care less. It wasn't the first time a similar situation had occurred.

'Just like that time…'

* * *

 **-Flashback-**

She sat idly in her seat in the classroom; eating her lunch alone. Everyone else was eating their lunch in the cafeteria, laughing, having a good time. She didn't care though. She just wouldn't fit or get along with them.

 _It felt like a long time ago that she had been like that too. Laughing, playing, enjoying her time with everyone. Being happy._

Eating slowly she lost herself further in thought, she also knew that being friends with them wouldn't go well. They didn't like her because she was too gloomy, and she knew that if she did make an effort they would just try and take advantage of her. Thinking that since she was friendless, if they said sweet things and asked her to something she'd comply without hesitation. Some had tried, and she had ignored them. Another reason why they didn't like her. She had shut them all out.

It was fine. She'd tell herself. She didn't need them, didn't need their fake friendship. She was fine on her own.

 _No. No you're not._ A small treacherous voice would always whisper to her each time she told herself that.

"Ugh! She's still here. What a freak! Doesn't she ever move!" She overheard a girl say to her two friends as they made their way to their desks on the opposite side of where she sat, in the front rows.

Her friend giggled. "Ran-chan! That's not nice."

"But it's true." Ran whined as her friends rolled their eyes.

"Still, it's better to just ignore the little mushroom." The other friend said.

"Mhm. She's a loser anyways. There's no need to give her any mind."

"I guess…still doesn't stop her from being a weirdo. She like never talks or show emotion! It's just so weird and freaky Mai-chan, Kyo-chan!" They both giggled.

"True. She's like an icicle!"

"Aw come on. Now that's just insulting to the icicle. Mai-chan." They all laughed before moving onto other topics.

Throughout the conversation they were having of her, Yume simply ate her lunch without changing her expression. It didn't hurt. Words cannot harm her, they can't do anything to her.

 _Do they?_

No. They don't because in the end it wasn't words that took away her parents. It was people, it was people who were careless in their actions that resulted in death. In the end that was the truth. What could words do to her?

Nothing. Plain and simple.

 _Just keep telling yourself that._

 **-Flashback end-**

* * *

A bitter smile formed on her face. Yes, it was just like that time. It didn't matter that this was a different world, people will be people, and children will be children. However, back then she had caused that on her own, and arguably, this was also caused by herself too. When she had first arrived, it was only just a few weeks after her parents' deaths, and she shut everyone out. Her aunt and uncle, teachers, other children everyone. She had thought they all wouldn't understand, how could they? She lost her parents because some idiot that was being careless, driving while she was intoxicated. Killing quite a few people while the rest had been injured.

That woman also lost her life, so there was no one out there to focus her hate on. Everyone gave her their condolences, and all she did after crying for a long time was look at everything dispassionately. She withdrew into herself, shut everyone out. However, no one had really noticed her change, her aunt and uncle were always busy, the caretaker and teachers didn't recognize that she needed help. Thinking she just a very reserved quiet girl, and the children interpreted her actions as her thinking she was better than them. In truth, she felt angry, jealous of the children, they still had their parents, while she didn't.

She had given into self-pitying herself for a long time, becoming cold and in the end socially awkward when she finally began to want to change. She hadn't known how to get along with her classmates after shutting them out for so long. However, she was given the chance somehow and ended up making friends with Tsuna and everyone. Of course, it did take a while for them all to become friends, or at least friendly acquaintances with others. Not to mention, her awkward first interactions when she tried to make friendships with each.

'Hahah. I really don't want to remember those times. It was so embarrassing.' Her eyes clouded a bit, her gaze unblinking as stars began to appear. Really, what would it take to find a way home.

"Midori…" She began to sing the Namimori middle anthem softly, something she would always remember, as her gaze remained fixed above her. A cool breeze rustled the leaves around her secluded spot in the courtyard. As she finished she sighed, eyes dimming slightly. 'I really am an idiot.'

The sky had already darkened considerably and the temperature was beginning to cool. She'd probably already missed dinner, and would get scolded by Machiko about skipping a meal and wasting food. She'd have to eat it cold too. However, she really couldn't bring herself to care about that now. Her mind only filled with memories of home.

"Hm... You know you're always gazing up at the sky. What's so interesting about it?" A voice spoke by her right ear and Yume jumped a bit, startled out of her thoughts. She turned to glare at the girl beside her, light colored eyes full of amusement as her lips quirked upwards. Yume resisted the urge to pout as the older girl held back her laughter. "Ma~ I didn't expect to scare you Yume-chan. Sorry." Yume huffed and looked away from the older girl.

"Aww, come on don't ignore me." Izumi sat next to her, crossing her arms around her knees. "Please?"

Yume pursed her lips but turned to gaze at the girl and gave her a questioning look. Izumi smiled happily at being acknowledged and persisted. "So really, what's so interesting about the sky? I've noticed a lot that you do that all the time when you're not busy with something else." Yume shrugged.

"It's not like I have anything better to do at those times." _Lies. You just mope around then when you could be training or bettering yourself instead._

"Hm…well. You just turned back into being uncute, but fine. Don't tell me."

"…Sorry."

"No. You're not but that's fine." Izumi sighed as she too turned to look at the sky that darkening sky. "I ended up hearing some more interesting things today while on gate duty."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Apparently an uncute _little_ girl made some new friends! Along with a few other things."

"…You gossip too much. Don't you have more important things to discuss while you work."

"Nope! Trust me, my uncute little friend, once you're on gate duty you wish you'd have taken desk duty any day. It's always so boring. Getting the juiciest information out there is more interesting."

"…Busybodies."

"…You know, what's wrong? And don't try to deny it! Something is bothering you. Is it those rumors about you cheating your way up? Or the ones that you're trying to suck up to the Uchiha clan and that your trying to get with the Uchiha heir?" At the surprised and disgusted look on Yume's face her worry grew.

"Wait what? I hadn't heard those, and no. The rumors are not what's bothering but that is something to worry about." She muttered, eyebrow twitching. What were the chances that some of the girls had decided to take their biases against her and tell their parents a rather one sided story. Then those parents had begun to gossip between one another, until it reached a rather talkative shinobi's ears and boom. Now she was the latest point of topic going around. It'll be such an annoyance if these adults began to speak about her when she's around in whispers wherever she wasn't egotistical in thinking that, it was just something lots of people who didn't like her would just love to exploit and try to break her down. Intentionally or not.

"Ah…oops. Maybe I shouldn't have said that then…Wait so there is something bothering you! Hah! I knew it." Izumi grabbed her by her shoulders and drew her close, tensing at the unexpected contact.. "Now tell me. Tell big sister Izumi what's on your mind."

"…" Crap. She had given herself away.

"I'll help you figure it out. No worries! Is it about the Uchiha boy then? Have you found you like him?" This girl…she was spouting one question one after another. Also, again with the whole romance thing! Ugh.

'Still I should say something if not she'll just keep nagging, or get all sulky.' Resignedly she began. "No Izumi. It's not about Itachi-kun-"

"Already on a first name basis I see~"

She continued as if she wasn't interrupted. "-and it has nothing to do with romance either. Please stop bringing that up. It's…just…I miss my family." She gave that much, with this Izumi would not push any further than she had to. Izumi's smile had been wiped from her face and it became awfully quiet. The only sounds heard were the crickets singing and the occasional rustling of leaves caused by the breeze.

"I…just miss them, they are so far away." She said once more, longing evident in her voice. As she said it out loud, her situation seemed to cement further. It had been a long time already and you'd think she'd come to terms with this but she wasn't fully. By her being careless, she had been ripped away from the place she had carved a place for herself. From everything she knew, and the scary part was. If it hadn't been her it could have been Tsuna, or any of the other guardians that would have taken the bullet for him. What would happen then? What then? What would they have done?

Of course, she already knew what she herself would have done. She'd track them down, and pry the information out of them. Of course, if she couldn't persuade them, she would hand them off to Hibari or Mukuro to do so. She'd probably kill quite a few in the process too.

She clenched her fists as Izumi continued to observe her quietly. She couldn't detect a lie coming from the younger girl. She wasn't saying everything of course, but the undeniable emotions of sadness and longing were there.

"I see…hey tell me about them? It may make you feel better? What were your parents like? Were you from a big clan?" Were the gently asked questions, and Yume's eyes clouded again. Her parents, she missed them too, but it had occurred a long time ago by now.

"I…no…I wasn't from a big clan or a clan at all. It was just me and my parents for a long time…Ah my mother." A small smile formed on her face as she thought about her mom. "She was an amazing person, always cheerful and nice around my dad and me, but she did love to tease him a lot. She loved to cook, read, go out and shop." She laughed softly as a memory surfaced of her mom forcing them to go out shopping and her dad having a horrified look on his face. "Of course my dad didn't, at least not when she was in a big mood for shopping." Her smile widened. "He was an amazing person too, he carried me around a lot, loved to play around after coming from work. He was polite, nice, and while I wouldn't say always cheerful, he did seem pretty happy when we were around." Her smile slowly faded as she stopped recounting some bits of her parents.

Ah, thinking about the good times of then really made her happy but after it also brought along the feeling of missing them. A dull ache went through her heart, and she bit her bottom lip. She hadn't been able to go visit their grave due to being impossibility of it, and hadn't thought of them since her mind had only been filled of finding away back. Guilt rose at that fact.

"…You know. I never knew my parents." Yume focused her gaze on the older girl who had leaned back on her elbows and was looking at the night sky with a smile on her face. "So I really think it's awesome you have memories of your mom and dad. They sound nice, and warm."

"…Warm?"

"Mhm. Like um…well you know how Machiko-san is. She cares but is always too busy, and the volunteers here are just doing their job and while they care. It's not the same as a parent's love and care, making sure you eat enough, that will help bandage you up after getting hurt a bit, make you your favorite meals, kiss you goodnight. You know that, which I think is really heartwarming."

"Oh…yes." Yume nodded as Izumi turned to look back at her with a cheery smile. "I'll admit I'm jealous, but it can't be helped. I may not know what clan the came from or if they came from one and were also orphans, but I'm sure they must have loved me a lot."

"Which is why, even if you miss them they'll always be with you in your heart."

"…" Yume looked at her wide eyed for a moment before laughter started to bubble up at the rather corny line. She knew that Izumi was being honest and true in her feelings though so she tried to hold her laughter back.

"Oi! You're not laughing at me, are you?" Izumi narrowed her light colored eyes, as Yume covered her mouth, stifling her laughter more.

"N-no…I-I'm not."

"…Right, and I'm the hokage." Izumi pursed her lips before she relaxed and smiled. "Oh whatever. You're just being weird again, but I'm glad you're feeling much better now." It was actually the first time she's ever seen her laugh, or rather heard her since she was covering her mouth, trying to muffle her laughter. This was nice.

"Yume-chan! WHERE ARE YOU?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?! You are in big trouble young lady!"

And the moment was broken as one of the caretakers began to shout out for Yume and when they saw them began to scold her. Izumi chuckled as she watched the adult scold a blank faced Yume. She could only guess that the girl was irked at this. It was past dinner time and soon almost curfew for the orphans.

She really didn't want this peace to end.

* * *

" Hello there Izumi-chan." A grandfatherly voice said as Izumi stood straight as a rod in front of the Hokage's desk. "I see you have been well. That's good, that's good." The elderly man sat in his chair, one hand holding a file while the other was hidden beneath the white robe. Izumi nodded stiffly as a nervous smile spread on her face.

" Greeting Hokage-sama." She didn't know why she was here, being called out for so late in the night. Did she do something wrong? Oh Kami, he didn't figure out she was gossiping around on guard duty, and kinda, maybe, sort of abandoned her post for a few minutes. She began to sweat at this. Upon seeing her nervous expression the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, couldn't help but chuckle.

"Be calm Izumi-chan, you are not in trouble," A pause. "Unless there is something that should be addressed that is a problem." Izumi had sighed in relief but then quickly shook her head as he said that last part.

"N-no Hokage-sama. Not really."

"Hm…very well. I shall let this slide." His gaze had narrowed slightly in suspicion before turning his gaze back towards the file. "I called you here in order to ask a few things from you."

"Ah, yes." She kept her gaze steady as she once again resumed a stiff posture. Unsure but curious as to what he wanted to ask. What reason could there be?

"You are close to a fellow orphan, Yume, from the Yuhi orphanage. Is that assumption correct?" Izumi looked puzzled for a moment at this sudden interest in Yume, but then resumed a serious expression. 'Talk must have reached here about how good she is as well as those rumors.' She thought as she gave a nod.

"Yes, that is correct Hokage-sama."

"Hm…and what is your opinion of her?"

She hesitated before speaking honestly. "She's really uncute, at least personality wise, but she's rather cute in appearance. At least I think so. Also she's very dedicated, since she first had the chance she began to train with me a bit, she can be very hm…aloof you can say, and she doesn't smile a lot, always looking up at the sky with a pensive expression, and very few friends. Only just now, did she make a few? I think, or it was just the Uchiha heir that she did at least. I don't think she knows how to interact well with the others, at least to make them friends. She's quite responsible and helps out with the staff at the orphanage though."

"Is that so? From the reports of her sensei, it does state that she can work well with her fellow classmates in group related activities, yet she refrains from interacting with them outside of it. Do you know why?"

"Um…I don't think she ever mentioned out loud as to why, but from what I've seen, it's because she feels uncomfortable. Her maturity is higher than them and so her interests and theirs don't mesh well. She thinks it helps avoid unnecessary conflicts." She had taken some time to stal-observe the younger girl since she was concerned that the girl might be lonely and hopefully push her to make friends on her own. However, there was nothing she could do to encourage her to make friends as Yume was the one who set that distance in the first place. She was polite to her classmates, never made prideful remarks, but always distant. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between them all, they left her alone, and she would do her best to make herself as unnoticed as possible. Of course, the fact that they left her alone may be due to how quickly she took them down at the beginning of each spar. So they knew that if she wanted to hurt them she could, of course knowing Yume, she wouldn't do that.

"That is another note that her sensei also mentioned." He set the file down, clasping both his hands in front of his face. An air of seriousness filling the room. "Very well. I will be frank with you Izumi-chan."

"…Hokage-sama?" She asked uncertainly.

"There is a lot unknown about her, and she may be a spy. As the person closest to her, despite your own feelings, I do hope you answer the rest of these questions truthfully. This is an order, and the protection of the village is what is most important now."

Izumi felt shock go through her, Yume a spy? There was no way that was true, sure the girl was more mature than what one would expect but still, she had never seen the girl slip or mention anything about other villages. With an ugly feeling rising in the pit of her stomach, she kept a straight face as she nodded. There was no way she was one, just no way.

"Has she ever mentioned anything about her home?"

"Not her home specifically." She had to swallow down the guilt of sharing something she believed Yume told her in confidentiality. "She did speak about her parents though, all in past tense, so it is safe to assume they are dead. She's not from a clan either."

"Yet nothing about her home?"

"No…and I don't believe she was lying about her parents either Hokage-sama. When seeing the emotion as she spoke and after, it's…it's hard to fake that."

"Any mention of a clan name."

"No."

"How, she came to be here?"

"No. However, the few times Machiko-san has asked, she tensed up as if remembering something unpleasant."

"No follow up was done then?"

"No."

"…" Silence engulfed the room.

He was pensive as his gaze pierced through her, as if it was able to see right through her very core. "You do not believe she's a spy."

"No Hokage-sama."

"Yet, you can not deny the fact that the way she holds herself is very peculiar."

"No, I can not." He was scrutinizing her as she kept her gaze steady, blank.

"…Very well. You are dismissed." _Remember where your loyalty lies._ Was left unsaid but the thick silence said it all. Izumi stiffened further at the unspoken threat, and bowed respectfully. Her emotions in turmoil, on one hand she didn't believe that Yume-chan was a spy, but on the other was her loyalty to Konoha. She had made an oath by becoming a Kunoichi to do what she must to ensure the safety of it's citizens, and the people of the Land of Fire.

Of course she had done things she didn't like but it was all for the greater good. This should be no different.

 _Yet they were all strangers to you. It didn't matter then._

She bit her lip, solemn as she made her way to her apartment. What will she do then? A faint memory surfaced as she thought this over.

* * *

" _Although I don't know your motivations on this I'm not going to speak a word about it ok? Ah, but if you turn out to be doing this for a bad reason, I'm going to stop you okay?" A sad smile formed as she said this. She was fond of the little girl, she knew her, it would hurt if she had to do it but in the end she would._

"… _That's fair but you know…why I want to isn't so much as a bad reason as a selfish one." The younger girl hesitated a bit before admitting this causing her to raise her eyebrow at the snippet of information. Izumi could tell she wasn't lying her voice sincere. Even if she wasn't sincere would be able to see any tell-tale signs of lies as she had started training on identifying lies. She didn't give this a way though._

" _I see…" She observed the girl carefully, looking for any give aways towards a lie."Then in that case selfish is better than bad or harmful I suppose." Her words were chosen carefully, however she made it seem natural, as if she wasn't assessing the girl. "But just clarify what is this selfish reason."_

" _To be with my family again." Was the vague response she got as the younger girl made her way inside. Not a lie but not the complete truth either. She also noticed that despite the girl being younger, she sometimes felt a lot older than she should be, with a lot of sadness inside. As if she had a lot of regrets, a lot of grief._

' _Maa…things are never as simple as it seems…' Izumi thought, as what they younger girl said could mean quite a few things and with the path she was choosing, she hoped it didn't mean a path that would lead to her death. In one form or another._

* * *

That's right, she had said it then hadn't she? She would do it if it came to it. However, she hadn't expected to get too close to the little girl, become so fond. She didn't completely understand her, Yume had gotten better at hiding her emotions, but she was honest with her. Had been honest, not completely honest, with her then but honest nonetheless.

Sometimes she had dropped hints of other nations then, with her reacting blankly or curiously. Not much of a flicker of recognition, except for things she had learned from the academy about them.

Unless she was an amazing actress, then all those times weren't a lie. She wasn't a spy and this whole situation was a mess. Izumi rubbed her forehead and sighed, she wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight after all this. She needed to think.

"Come now Hiruzen you are not having second thoughts on this now. That child could be a danger! She has appeared here under suspicious circumstances, in a rather opportune time." An aging man, with shaggy, black hair, said. His uncovered eye staring at the other aging man before him unblinkingly.

Hiruzen, had his eyes closed, solemn as he listened to his friend's thoughts. "We have to cut off any potential threats before they become a problem."

"So you say, and what do you suggest doing."

"Let me handle this. She is a bright child in many academy instructor's eyes, and her potential has reached the ears of many others. Truly she would be an exceptional addition to our forces, yet the cons outweigh the positives. She reaches a higher rank and gains information then. She could cause and internal leak. She-"

"Danzo, my friend. I understand your concern." He turned to look at the man sitting across from him. "However, there is still the possibility we are reading too much into everything."

"Possibility? Are you truly basing your opinion from what that chunin girl said? Her information is unreliable. She favors that girl too much to give an accurate account."

"Yes, I am aware. That is why I can't say for certain that everything is true but if what was given is accurate in some way. We are closer in knowing for certain. As you said, she would be a great asset, and we need more exceptional shinobi. Information gathered was added since the day her suspicious background came to light."

He extended the file that had lay on his desk towards Danzo, who took it with his hand that was not in a caste. He glanced over the file in silence. "As you can see, likes, behaviors, health, capabilities have been recorded. Her background is still hazy but it seems she still has recollections of her parents, and that they are dead. The boxes found beside her had been recorded in detail. They may be a clue as to where she is from, and her circumstances of arrival."

"We also questioned the head matron of her orphanage and it seemed that whatever occurred then was either very traumatic or painful if her behaviors were not faked."

"That could all be done to lower our guard."

"Perhaps, but it is far likelier it isn't."

"Her behavior-"

"Could be the result of witnessing and experiencing a painful event. It may be her way of coping."

"Could is the key word there Hiruzen. This is not a matter to take lightly."

"I know. Which is why I have decided to take one more precaution and test. The Yamanaka will handle this, and if she is cleared. Then we will have no more reason to hold her back. We need more forces, and the more skilled the better Danzo." _It is for the good of the village._

"You are making a mistake Hiruzen." _You have made far too many_.

The Hokage seemed to age just a bit more. "We shall see. We shall see my friend."

 **M:Okay! So like I said unedited, and I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. More things happened, and probably just one more before academy arc is over. Also, more character interactions and insight. The flashback with Izumi is mostly the same as what occurred but more insightful as to what she thought then. Plus some changes that occurred since one's memory will not always remain the same, and may get distorted a bit. So yeah…till next time guys!**

 **animagirl- yeah she does, and she kinda was like this in the original but you know I feel this is more…organic? I mean since it's difficult for a normal person to be quite expressionless and tense all the time while hiding their true selves. So yeah. I feel this is a bit better maybe?**


	8. Omake & Status Update

**M: Hey guys I'm not dead and sorry I haven't uploaded in a long while. I will when I have time but right now I decided to post a small scene of what might happen sometime in the future if not a bit modified at that time.**

 **Heads up though. When I do post again I'm thinking of just uploading 5 chapters then, so it will be a while but still, and some edits to previous chapters too. Since I did end up drawing how my ocs for this fanfic look like, and bios and few other things. Just so it can be a bit more easier for me to not get lost when writing, and getting their background and stuff. Well. I hope you enjoy.**

Omake

Fran's gaze remained as impassive as ever, as the three older boys began to antagonize them. It was a recent thing, given by the way Naruto's shoulders sagged, and bared his teeth as he gave the older boys a glare. Obviously wanting to give them a piece of his mind but refraining to given the advice Yume-nee had given them.

Fran hadn't really paid attention, rolling his eyes at her rather weak approach with dealing with these things. It wasn't wrong, he would admit to that since given them a lack of response or reaction could discourage them but perhaps she forgot that Naruto was in fact a little boy. Unlike them who had a more mature mindset, and that Naruto was quite hot-blooded.

"Hey, look. His little friend is too scared to even talk." One of the older boys said, and he was stereotypically ugly as those bullies in a manga.

"Hah?" The other boy sneered and gave an ugly laugh, as Fran shifted his gaze towards him. Both boys were probably in their last year, given by their age. However, he doubted they were anywhere near the top of their class, or even that competent given by the fact that they preyed on younger, weaker children.

Cute.

Fran sighed as he looked up at the sky in boredom, ignoring the pissed off looks they were giving him. As they continued to verbally assault them. Naruto looked like he was about to break. Honestly, don't these kids know anything?

He turned back to stare at the kids as a slow, cold smile spread across his face. It was really cute how they thought they could scare him but really, they were as frightening and harmless as a little butterfly. What were they compared to the annoying pests, of members in Varia. They couldn't even hold a candle to them.

"What the hell are you smiling at loser? You looking to get your ass beat!" Ugly spoke as he raised his fist, Fran's smile never disappearing from his face as he swung it at his face. Only instead of making contact with flesh it went through and where Fran once stood, there was nothing. This caught the other boy and Naruto in surprise who had finally snapped and was going to take his own swing at the boy for hurting his friend.

A cold, mocking laugh that sent chills resounded around them, and caused the older boys to become more agitated. Naruto in the mean while was confused as to where his friend was, and a wave a chills ran through him. "How pathetic. You two only know how to prey on those weaker than you while you act tough."

"Who are you to call us pathetic. You're the one who's hiding like a coward!" The leader yelled glaring.

"And stupid too." Fran said behind them and they turned around aiming a kick at him only for the image to waver and disappear. Fran reappeared behind them again and it hit them, upon noticing how everything was eerily quite. There was no sound of children playing, no laughter, no birds chirping, nothing, and everything seemed dimmer.

At the looks on their faces Fran smirked coldly. "Golden rule of Varia, is if you're going to talk shit, you have to back it up." Well not really, golden and most important rule was to not piss off the boss but meh, semantics. A sadistic sort of glee ran through him as he finally made a swarm of insects and spiders appear crawling towards the boys. A look of terror washed over their faces before giving him a condescending look.

"Your using genjutsu, this isn't real!" They then made the sign for kai to dispel the illusion but it wasn't working and they turned pale.

"Why isn't it working! Kai! Kai!" They repeated over and over as the little critters neared closer and closer. Fran smirked. Oh they weren't wrong that this was an illusion, but he was using his flames not genjutsu. Oh, the wonders a small genjutsu cast in this area could do while they were caught helplessly in his fabrication.

Naruto looked at Fran in surprise as he had never seen his friend have such a cold, look on his face. Apathetic, noncaring, blank yes but never cold like this. Not to mention how did he do this, why was he able to command the little creatures. A bunch of questions ran through his mind. He moved back abit as Fran turned to him, his expression back to it's uncaring state. "Oi. Chibi, let's go. Class will start soon. We don't have time for this anymore." He grabbed Naruto's hand and began to lead him away, the little creatures never appearing near them as the screams of the older boys echoed around them until they died down..

"But…" He turned to look back at the boys as they tried to pry and destroy the neven ending army of little creatures off of them.

"They'll be fine. It's not real they're only illusions." He stated in a bland tone. No doubt that the teachers had already taken note of two of their students distressed chakra signatures and so he had only layered a similar genjutsu to his own illusion as he dispersed it. He didn't want to get caught with that now did he?

Naruto continued gazing back for a bit before asking him. "Why?"

Fran understood what he was asking about and shrugged. "They were annoying and I'm already in a foul mood. It's their fault really. I could have been merciful but they were acting too much like trash. Pathetic scum." Fran paused midstep in the hallway in realization of what language he used.

Oh fuck, no. He did not just fucking say anything like those pests would. Nope. No. He'll just pretend he's too tired and was just speaking nonsense. He does not in anyway miss them.

Naruto looked at Fran quizzically as he stopped for no reason and was staring off blankly at nothing.

"Um…Fran?"

"…Stupid tooth decaying fungi." Fran muttered under his breath as he resumed towards their destination. Ignoring the look of concern Naruto was giving him. He'll erase that part of his memory until it's burned to ash.

Upon entering his classroom it wasn't long before he was called out by his sensei, with a few others waiting by the door.

How annoying. He mentally sighed as he made his way for what was probably another lecture.


	9. Chapter 8

Gritting her teeth she laid down unceremoniously on the ground, panting heavily, bruised and dirty. Itachi hadn't been the least bit lenient when she asked him for a spar again. A taijutsu spar only, and she was beaten over and over. She knew right from the start that she did not exactly excel in hand-to-hand combat. She had been trained to an extent by Lal, so she hadn't been abysmal. She just wouldn't be able to hold a candle against an expert when fighting hand to hand. A fact, that required her to put more effort when she trained to get better when she was in her own home or the Vongola Mansion, to at least not embarrass herself.

Still, she gave Itachi a studious look, as he lightly panted, rubbing the dirt and dust from his body. She was able to knock him down a few times, this time so that was progress. However, each spar became longer, and more difficult as she was running out of stamina and strength. He wore her down, while he didn't appear the least bit tired. Appear being the key word. His chakra level belied just how much he could have kept on going. If she had held up for another round, she had a higher chance of winning.

She sighed as she turned to look up at the evening sky. Of course, winning wouldn't have been guaranteed, nor would it have mattered in real life situations. Based on the first round she would have died no ifs and or buts. She clenched her fists, ignoring the silent protests her muscles were yelling as she frowned. 'If only I was back to my old body. I wouldn't have to stay here, I could just leave, and no one would be the wiser or the least bit suspicious.'

She idly thought, although realistically, if she was back in her old body and had left so soon. She'd be less prepared and there is no guarantee she would live either. This world is just as cruel and dangerous as her own, if not more so given that the main protectors are military powers, who are usually at odds with one another, piss the wrong person off and it's perfectly acceptable for you to be assassinated with no one being none the wiser. There was no legal system to investigate her death, and even if there was what could they do? She had no family, nor any backing to guarantee she won't be backstabbed or avenged.

The same could be said about her situation now to be honest, if a bit more secure. Sure she had to basically lie about where her loyalty lies, who she was to an extent, and that could get her killed if they deemed her a threat. No one would care then, and it'd only be seen as keeping the village safe. Thankfully, she was only seen as a child and a future comrade by the Konoha nin.

She was just like the rest of the people here in the village to them. They gave their protection, but they served the leaf only and followed its protocols above all else. Given this she couldn't help but feel, no knew, that there was a dark side to the ever so favorable light accounts told civilians about the shinobi. This occupation practically delved into dark matters, if one was high enough ranking.

Not to mention, the rumor of the still ongoing kidnappings, and disappearances. You'd think with how capable the shinobi were that they'd figure out by now or have clues on what was going on. Unless, the leaf themselves were the perpetrators, or the one responsible was just that good at covering their tracks. That was just terrifying to think about, an enemy so skilled enough to evade capture or detection. And who even knows what happened to all those missing people either.

She sighed as she closed her eyes. 'It's pointless to think about it, It'll only give me a headache coming up with theories that could be going on. Still…I can't help but feel uneasy about it..' Hearing Itachi sit down next to her, she couldn't help but sighing again and pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind. She didn't have to see to know that Itachi was now, as dirt free as he could get, and much more composed than her. Of course, that would be the case since he wasn't the one being rammed into the ground over and over again.

'Stupid prodigy.' She grumbled halfheartedly in her mind, much as she'd hate to admit. The boy had grown on her a bit, as Izumi had. Despite his young age, he was certainly more mature in some aspects that she felt more comfortable being around him, rather than the rest of their peers or his friends. It was easier to relate with him, and she didn't have to deal with the way her teacher and Izumi would deal with her in some things that a normal kid, even a prodigy like Itachi, wouldn't grasp yet. It got frustrating, quick.

"You're irritated." He stated. "Why?" His tone was a bit emotionless, but it still held obvious curiosity, and if she opened her eyes to look at him, she would see the inquisitive and observant light in his dark eyes.

"Do you even have to ask?" She retorted, an attempt at throwing him off from her real thoughts and moved while ignoring the all too familiar feeling of soreness throughout her body as she sat up and winced a bit at the pain in her back. 'Definitely going to be feeling that tomorrow.' It would be so painful, but if she compared it to Hibari's hits this was just a light tap. She shivered, she was so glad he wasn't here since he undoubtedly would begin to terrorize the village and its residents since there were strong opponents around. A _lot_ of strong opponents. Kami help them all.

She came back to reality from picturing Hibari being here instead, turning her head slightly to face Itachi, as he began to respond.

"...I don't quite understand, that's all. You're good, but it always feels like you get distracted and hasty when we spar like this lately. Resulting in a lot of openings and you being upset afterwards. You would have stood a better chance if you had just remained collected like before. " He noted, and she pursed her lips, and slumped forward at his analysis. He wasn't wrong, she was getting irritated, and rushing things lately. She was becoming restless, frustrated, desperate, she wanted to get back home now. Soon.

Rationally, that wasn't possible given her state but the more she stayed here the more it solidified that she doesn't belong here. Not with the bright eyed, hopeful kids around her admiring, and wanting to be shinobi of the leaf. Not with the civilians who are wary but respectful, appreciative or admiring of their military and leaders. Not with this deceptively opening military system, where deception and death are hidden beneath the honor and glory a shinobi can bring to their family and village. Not in this world, where chakra exists. No. She was just an outsider, an intruder to this place.

Not to mention there was that nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen soon and It wasn't any good for her. She just couldn't put a finger on what.

Itachi upon noticing her become sullen suddenly, began with a slight panic in his voice continued. "But you have gotten better though… I mean you are…more skilled now?" He didn't know what to say to cheer his friend up. He didn't mean to make her feel bad. He was just stating the facts, and well he was concerned. He glanced to the side and sighed while rubbing his arm. What should he say. Should he apologize?

"I um…I'm sorry?"

She turned to face him for a moment in puzzlement, why was he apologizing? At realizing why, as he looked at her in concern and uncertainty she shook her head. "No. I'm sorry, you didn't do anything wrong. You're just making note of my mistakes and that's fine. It helps point out what I need to fix." She stated, giving him a small reassuring smile and he relaxed.

He was glad she wasn't upset with him. Really though, she never really seemed to get mad at him or truly angry at anyone. It was always as if she kept a distance between herself and others. Well he couldn't really judge. He was the same in that he kept a distance between others but he didn't do that with his friends or family.

That was their difference, an observation he had made with the few months that they have been friends. While he didn't mind being more open with those closest to him, she actively kept herself away. Even those closest to her and he couldn't figure out why. He had asked Shisui a few weeks ago, but he said she'll come around with time, and if he's that curious about it that he should ask her. He had then gained a mischievous light before adding something else.

" _Or we could be subtler in our approach in finding out. We're rather bright young shinobi-"_

" _Technically, one and one shinobi-in training."_

" _Details, details. Itachi-chan." He waved his hand offhandedly. "Anyways, we're bright young shinobi and we should act like it. Let's make it a competition on finding out the reason."_

"… _That sounds like a stupid idea."_

" _Oi. You're just being rather dull Itachi-chan. Come on! This will be fun and the loser has to buy the winner whatever food they want." Shisui coaxed, and Itachi gave him a flat look._

" _You're just doing this because you're bored aren't you?"_

" _Hm…Maybe~ But you'll still do it."_

" _...I better get my dango's worth when I win." Curse Shisui for using his love against him. As if knowing where Itachi's thoughts went Shisui just gave him a smug smile._

" _Hn. I knew you'd see it my way Itachi-chan, but you're wrong. I'm going to win this."_

" _Hn."_

" _Oi. That wasn't very nice Ita-chan!"_

" _Hn."_

They had then parted ways as Shisui had to go on a mission, and they agreed they'd start after he came back from his mission. However, nothing they did led to a conclusion. It was a challenge and unfortunately for Yume, Shisui loved challenges and whenever he was around he would do things to annoy her and subsequently him, as he tried to figure things out. It came up with nothing other than she refused to talk about her past with them. So that was a big clue on what the reason for her distance was but that didn't give them an answer as to why or what exactly it was.

He sighed, still it might just be better to just ask. However the thought of making Shisui buy him as much dango as he wants was far too tempting. His mother hadn't let him buy any the past few weeks either, saying he needed to restrain himself, and that too much sweets was bad for him. Of course, he knew that, but he ate all his healthy, nutritious meals without complaining each day, and trained enough so that eating his beloved dango wouldn't be a problem.

"Anyways…It's getting late I should leave soon." Yume said, after the long silence as Itachi was lost in thoughts. Itachi blinked, not realizing he had been staring at her blankly for quite a while now. She had an amused expression, as she returned her gaze upwards. "It's getting late."

"Ah…I'll walk you back." It was only polite after all.

She hummed in thought. "That'd be nice, but don't you have to go back soon?" A few beads of sweat rolled down his face at this. He certainly didn't want to upset his mother again for staying after his curfew. It had never been a problem before but he had trained so much one time that he fell asleep outside. When he had returned he had received a, rarely given to him, scolding from her and a curfew. However, how long that will truly last, before she wouldn't really mind him staying a bit past that, he wasn't sure. He shivered, still he didn't want to get her upset again. She was terrifying when angry.

"Yes."

"Then…just walk me back to the gate entrance, I should be fine going back."

"It's a long way back though."

"I'll be fine. It's not like someone will do anything when others are around, I'll just stick close to populated areas. The military police are doing their rounds after all, so I'll be fine." She reassured, and he couldn't help but nod as he got up from his sitting spot, followed by Yume doing the same. She was right, the police are doing their job and they were really capable to handle a lot of things and keeping the peace. He gave her a small smile in return as they began their trek back. "Alright then."

When they reached the gates of the Uchiha district they said their goodbyes.

"Have a good night Yume-san. Be careful on your way back." A brief look of concern flashed on his face before schooling it at the flat look she gave him. She was his friend after all, and her way back would take at least a good half hour, fifteen if she went by rooftop, or ran part of it. Not to mention that she would be making her way back at night, alone. And while she was able to defend herself, she was pretty tired. Maybe they shouldn't have trained this much today.

"Like I said I will be fine." He still didn't look that convinced, but relented as he gave a slight wave, turning to leave.

"…Very well. Have a good night Yume-san."

"Have a nice night Itachi-san." She returned looking at the slightly populated road, with some of the civilians, shinobi, and clan children of the Uchiha clan going back into the compound. The sky turning a calming shade of dark blue, a clear night.

"I'll be fine…I just hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot…" She uttered softly, the feeling of unease growing stronger, her fingers twitching toward her rings and boxes. Itachi was long gone to see or hear her at this point.

* * *

She clenched her fists, cursing herself for being stubborn on going back home on her own but she didn't want to take anymore time from Itachi than she already did today. She knew his parents were rather strict and expected the best from him. Usually, Shisui would be the one taking her back, or Itachi if the latter wasn't there, much to her chagrin but suited as a reminder of how far she would let this friendship go. Walking her home was acceptable, but she didn't want to burden them or spend any extra time than was necessary.

However, now that was backfiring on her, and she was almost helpless against the people surrounding her.

Two people, shinobi, quite tall and lean. Their ages and features indiscernible form one another apart from the blank masks they wore, although that difference was also difficult to see due to how dark it was right now. They had been following ever since she entered the shopping district. Their chakra faint, almost unnoticeable but she was capable now of sensing chakra that suppressed and faint if she focused enough. Unfortunately, stupidly really. She failed to notice that they had cast a genjutsu on her until it was too late. She had released it of course but she was now in a lone street, near an alley. A place she had visited and marked in the day so she knew how to get back from here but that was only a back thought to what she was focused on right now.

The two, were still, assessing her every movement. She glared at them, but kept her posture relaxed, giving away any action she would take. She was already exhausted, and they clearly knew that. Yet they hadn't made a single move, other than casting that genjutsu on her and no doubt on their surroundings too.

Who were they? They didn't have a headband on them, or a symbol to announce their affiliation. Smart. However, that didn't giver her much on working with to report on who they were if it turned out they had nefarious- highly likely – intentions towards her. However, the why, that they would take interest in her was also put into question.

Whatever their end plan was, right now she had to keep her focus on them. A faint, new chakra approached from her left.

'A comrade of theirs?' She grew more wary, ignoring her exhaustion, noticing that the two moved back a distance. It wasn't long before the owner of the chakra appeared in front the two. He was also wearing a mask and had an imposing aura about them.

The newcomer also seemed to assess her just as the two had, just more briefly, raising a hand for the others to back down. They did so, their postures seemingly relaxing, while remaining watchful, unassuming. The newcomer, unlike the others, who seemed content in keeping the silent showdown between them spoke. It was a male, his voice was, low and smooth, seemingly kind.

"It is a pleasure to meet you…Yuhi, Yume-san, or would you prefer Yume-chan?" His posture was relaxed, and gave a seemingly friendly vibe. She didn't answer, remaining wary. While he sounded kind, she didn't believe his act one bit. What kind of nice person sent out people to stalk a child if they didn't have a bad motive behind him. Not to mention, she wasn't stupid enough to relax her guard when someone remotely nice showed up in this situation.

"You do realize that it's rude to not respond right?" His tone was humorous. No response. He sighed, posture sagging a bit.

"Well aren't you a rude one, and here I've heard you were a rather polite child." She remained where she was, not moving, as she stored that piece of information to analyze at a later time.

"…And you won't be answering then either. Well…maybe going about this way wasn't the best choice. You're curious about why we're here I suppose. Alright then. How about I explain things, ne?" He asked, his voice remaining kind as ever. Again, she gave no response.

"Hm…Well to be frank Yume-chan. I can call you Yume-chan right?"

"…"

"I'll take that as a yes. Well you see Yume-chan. We've been interested in you for quite a while. Our leader, he's been impressed at what you can do, and thinks you'll be a good asset. Outstanding grades, exemplary dedication in training, dutiful, bright, curious to know more. You've truly impressed him and it takes a lot for him to be impressed." His tone became more passionate as he spoke. "He's extended an invitation for you to join an elite group of like minded people. Your talent is wasted remaining in the academy. If you join us, you will realize, no, exceed your limits than if you remained here. Don't you want to be a superb shinobi?" He questioned at the end, and she didn't fail to note that he remained vague about who they were allied with and this 'leader' of theirs.

"…If he's so impressed then why isn't he here to express his invitation personally." She responded, her voice cool, gaze observant, relaxing her glare. As she spoke, this caused the man in front of her to tilt his head slightly, again she could sense that he was observing her.

"He would have liked to appear personally, but other matters took precedence. I'm afraid, but once you come with us you will be able to meet him. An honor it will be, I assure you." She couldn't help but give a dry chuckle.

"An honor? Then he must be really important then. Perhaps higher than _Hokage_ - _sama_?"

"Like I said it is an honor. Many would love to be in your shoes believe me." His voice was like sweet honey, coaxing and if she were a normal child, a normal orphan, wanting somewhere to belong with others like themselves. She gave a sneer in her mind. She was not a normal child though. On the outside she gave an apologetic look, already guessing where this would lead.

"I must apologize, _shinobi-san_ , but I will decline. I'm not interested in joining this _elite_ group of his. Much less so with how he went about it, sending his lackeys to _persuade_ me to join." She sensed their chakra begin to shift and she kept a blank look on her face. "Also, I'd very much like it if I could leave, I'm going to miss my curfew Machiko-san set for me, and I don't want to be punished again."

"…I see. How unfortunate," His tone shifted from kind to emotionless. "I'm afraid this is non-negotiable. You will be coming with us." He shifted his stance, ready to engage in a fight, as did the others behind him.

A sarcastic light appeared in her eyes. "Funny. I had a feeling you would say that." She got out of the way, this time not succumbing to the genjutsu cast. She would need to finish this quickly. She landed on the wall, her chakra keeping her in place as she tried to find an escape route. She really stood no chance in a direct fight as she was and getting to a place where there were people would stall them for a bit.

'Damn it, where's the police when you need them!' She had given them as an excuse to Itachi about how she would be fine because of them and yet here she was. She had been doing nothing but evading their hold for the last minute or so and this confrontation would not last much longer.

The spokesperson of the lot didn't say anymore throughout all this, remaining quiet like the rest of them. Upon noticing that the genjutsu wasn't having an effect he had made some signs and his comrades had gone out of sight.

'One on the left, one behind.' She didn't give away that she knew where they were located but was really in a bind now.

She continued evading, her small body, and flexibility giving her an advantage in avoiding their grasps. All the while, keeping track of when the other two moved. However, it wouldn't be long before she couldn't evade and would be struggling out of their grasp. If she even could, she had no doubt that they would leave her unconscious once they got their hands on her.

These people were skilled, way beyond her capabilities. Would she really have to resort to that? She clenched her fists. Damn it, all she did was avoiding it and keeping her guard. But a complete defense would only result in her loss.

'Tch. I refuse to let myself get kidnapped. I refuse to go down without a struggle!' She gritted her teeth, as she once again got out of the way, his hand barely missing her. She was slowing down, and they were casting genjutsus again while simultaneously, trying to get a hold of her. It didn't work, as she successfully dispelled it but the genjutsus were becoming more powerful, and potent. At this point, one of them had a hold of her arm. Panic swelled inside of her.

'No. No, no, no, no. They won't take me! I won't let them! Fuck! Calm down! Don't panic! Stay calm! Stay calm!' The mantra repeated in her head as she squashed down the wave of panic. Taking out a kunai of hers and she stabbed the man in the arm. Or she would have if he hadn't caught it in his grip, her kunai still tight in her hand. Panic rose again at this. She could sense that the other two's chakra had relaxed a little, while the main one before her didn't relax at all. They have achieved part of their goal even if they had to go a bit farther than they had expected.

Or so they thought.' Disregarding the consequences she called out her flames. Green, crackling electricity, illuminated the darkness of the alleyway, covering the kunai; catching her captor off guard enough that she was able to get out of his grip and stab his jugular. Pulling back, she ignored the smell of burnt flesh and blood, as the man lay on the ground and headed towards the closest masked figure. With one down, it meant more of a chance of getting out of this free.

However, the element of surprise was gone, and they were expecting her, guarded. They recovered quickly, and as she aimed for his head he blocked it with a kunai of his own, chipping away part of hers. She growled. Shit, their weapons were made of good quality.

She had to end this fast. She twisted her body, kicking the other in the chest as they reached to hold her down and stabbed him in the heart. He dispersed into a ruble of rock. Identifying where he was she pushed chakra into her legs, appearing behind him just as he had replaced himself with a clone, and just like the first caught him off guard enough to stab him through the heart. This time without giving him enough time to replace himself. Even if stabbing him there wouldn't kill him, the burnt flesh would as it stopped the heart from beating again.

Not forgetting about the other one who had taken this time to appear behind her and grasp her arms in a hold. Knowing he was going to force her to drop her weapon she relaxed her body enough for her to get out of his hold and stabbed him in the leg. He grunted, but didn't cry out in pain. Using this to her advantage she stabbed him though the heart, burning the flesh, just as she did to the second one.

She stood over the masked figure, panting, covered in blood, still having a firm hold on the handle of the kunai stuck in one of her would be kidnappers. 'I did it…but just barely…No…I can't…ave…go' Were her last thoughts before losing consciousness. Her body slumped over the fresh corpse.

* * *

Shisui was just returning from a long, overly taxing mission, with his two squad mates. Midori, and Katsuki, two people he had gotten acquainted with recently. However, just as they jumped over a alleyway, an all too familiar stench hit their nostrils. A fresh scent of burnt flesh, and the coppery smell of blood. All three paused, briefly giving each other a glance before taking out a kunai, ready for anything as they jumped down. His eyes flashed red, indication of his Sharingan activating.

Whatever it was that they had been expecting, it wasn't this. Clearly there had been a struggle, based from the tell tale signs in the surroundings. The most obvious of course, were the four bodies, all covered in blood, three clearly adult strewn about and a child on top of one. Shisui approached cautiously, the adults were clearly dead, their chakra all but extinguished, only the child's signature faint. Ignoring the smell, or even caring about staining his hands as he grabbed a hold of the child's blood matted hair and shoulder he thought that the child seemed familiar. His heart momentarily stopped as he turned the child's figure around to check for any injuries they had.

'Oh no…Don't tell me…' He thought in horror. It was Yume, Itachi's friend, covered in blood, weak and exhausted. 'How did…no. That can wait, first she'll need to go to the hospital.' Signaling to his squad to put the bodies in body scrolls, he picked up Yume from the body. He noticed that blood was fresh, it hadn't been long since this incident occurred.

With authority he spoke. "I'll be taking the kid to the hospital, I'll catch up to report as soon as I'm finished." A possible breach in security, there was no identifying markers on the dead individuals, except for the masks. Almost eerily reminiscent of the one's the ANBU wore but these were completely blank, devoid of any colors.

"Alright." Both nodded and quickly left the scene. Ignoring the smell, he used his sharingan, making note of everything he saw, before leaving with the little girl in his arms. He kept shooting concerned glances at Yume. Sure, they might not be considered close friends like she was with Itachi but he still knew the kid enough to say they were on friendly terms. I mean she did deal quite well with his teasing, and didn't look like she hated him.

'Still…Whatever happened could be damaging to her, especially since she still hasn't been taught how to deal with this thing yet…' That was concerning, he didn't know what occurred exactly but he could guess that she was the one to end things. Her first kills.

"Just what the hell is going on…" He muttered, a frown marring his face. Tonight was already tiring, but it looked like it would be even more so now.

* * *

He stood before his Hokage, back straight, face blank after he finished handing in his verbal report. The Hokage's own expression devoid of emotion, making it hard to read his thoughts.

"You are certain Shisui-kun?" His voice just as difficult to read, yet it undeniably held a hint of tiredness.

"Hai. I reported the incident to the Konoha military police in order to gather more information on this matter. However, when we arrived at the scene, it hadn't been long since the struggle ended. There was nothing we could see that indicated what village they belonged to, nor any traces of forced entry. Not even any traces of there being any other intruders in the area."

"…" The Hokage sighed, folding his hands behind his back as he stared at the night sky from the windows, overlooking a good portion of Konoha. His hand tipped his Hokage hat slightly to cover his eyes as his, mouth formed a tight line.

"That does not tell us much, but it certainly gives us a place to start. Thank you Shisui-kun."

"I am only doing my duty Hokage-sama."

The Hokage turned to give him a side glance. "It is more than that I expect Shisui-kun."

"Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen gave a small chuckle, eyes gently.

"Come now Shisui-kun. This is somewhat of a personal matter to you. I'm very much aware of Yume-chan's friendship to little Itachi-kun. It's not that hard to guess that you will be concerned of her well being as well."

"I…no Hokage-sama. Personal matters should be kept apart from business matters." He denied. This only caused Sarutobi to chuckle a bit more.

"And yet you took it upon yourself to take her to the hospital rather than one of your squad members and reporting immediately." He shook his head, continuing before Shisui could refute some more. "It's fine Shisui-kun. How is her condition?" His inquiry subtly hinting that he knew that he waited a while for the results of a quick scan of her revealed.

Shisui wanted to sigh, knowing he couldn't hide anything from the Hokage. "She's fine apart from some bruises, chakra exhaustion and some minor burns on her right hand is what I was told. A more thorough analysis still needs to be done." Trauma or even poison might have been involved but that needed to be more thoroughly screened for. They entire events of the ordeal remaining a mystery.

Sarutobi remained silent, in thought. "It is curious isn't it. Out of any possible person out there why was she picked. Is it a coincidence or purposeful?" He voiced his thoughts out loud. Shisui hesitated in asking the Hokage to clarify but decided against it. Allowing for Sarutobi to continue.

"You should go and rest Shisui-kun. You have done quite a lot already." He dismissed Shisui, tone leaving no room for discussion. Shisui had said all that he could, and even if he wanted to impart more information at the moment, he wouldn't be able to properly process everything. He did quite well to hide just how tired he was, but he couldn't deceive his eyes.

Shisui bowed respectfully before leaving without a word, disappearing in a swirl leaving a few traces of leaves in his place. Sarutobi returned to gazing over Konoha, hands behind his back his expression blank once more.

The room remained silent for a while before the swirling sound of leaves once again ended the silence. The person who appeared didn't have to voice the question that only they knew of. Sarutobi closed his eyes, as he spoke. His voice tired, but resolute as if coming to a decision. " You know what to do Inoichi."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

* * *

He stood before a large expanse of houses, electrical wires dotting out countlessly in each direction of the streets, and trees. The roads were not of dirt like Konoha's, made of some black, concrete or cement material; the houses separated from each other either by metal or brick fences. Some of the houses were of similar structures to the one's he was familiar with but other's not so much.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this…it might be a while before I can even find what I need to find." He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, his blue-green eyes narrowing slightly. Usually, it wasn't difficult figuring out the direction he was supposed to head. However, when minds were more guarded, where he began would be a good distance away from the records of thoughts and memories. To take the words of his close friend, Shikaku, this was troublesome.

When he had first been assigned to figure out if the little girl in question truly is a spy or even sleeper agent he thought this was a joke. An absurd notion, that the late Yondaime had put to rest, but had been brought up again for one reason or another. Still he took this mission seriously, even if he thought his time would have been better suited to his usual duties at T&I.

He had taken to observing the young girl, noting her oddity and unusual wariness, something she could hide quiet well for most but not from expertly trained professionals like him. Especially, when his focus was directed on them only. However, other than those things there was no contact with any suspicious individuals, no reading materials, current or present, that were out of the normal scope of an academy student. This was taking present the curriculum specially made for her, and nothing that gave way of trying to establish connections into a prominent clan to gain intel.

The friendship to the Uchiha heir had been of interest especially regarding some rumors on the noble clan. Forming a friendship to gain more from them wouldn't have been odd given her status of questionable civilian origin. However, apart from sparring the child didn't even ask for anything else from the heir, not even to meet the head of the Clan. Given that if an outsider is given some favor by any clan, there is some benefit one way or another.

She checked out, leaving no need to read her mind, and then this occurred. Now he was supposed to retrieve the memory of before her appearance and what connection that may have with this current development.

"But where to start…any direction should just work…" He murmured to himself, all he would have to do is find the house that is the clearest looking. The houses around him while detailed, appeared slightly hazy around the edges.

Those weren't the correct one.

As he was about to head down the right lane, careful of any possible traps, he stopped as someone spoke behind him.

"Ano…are you looking for something mister?" A soft, almost timid sounding voice asked. He stiffened, and turned around and there stood a youth before him. He hadn't heard the sounds of footsteps, nor had he triggered a trap as far as he could tell. The only possible reason for this sudden development…

'So, she does have something to hide.' A defense mechanism no doubt, and despite the youth appearing docile, looks could be deceiving.

The youth tilted his head, yes he; around seventeen years old by his given appearance, fluffy brown haired, innocent looking eyes, fair colored skin that made his own seem tanner in comparison, and wore a black suit, similar to the ones he had seen coming into fashion for certain businessmen. He appeared weak, and as he kept on gazing at him, Inoichi couldn't help but feel more at ease.

When he realized this he narrowed his gaze once more and prepared to end it quickly, but first. "Who or what are you?" He asked, no demanded harshly, his already strong features becoming more prominent. "Answer now or else." He could get rid of this trap no problem, however there might be an unforeseen consequence of doing so.

The youth backed away at his hostile demeanor, raising his hands up in a surrender motion. "Please calm down mister I mean no harm. Ah as for what I am um…I guess you can say an illusion?" His almost panicked expression morphed into confusion dropping his hand in the process. "No…that's not quite right either I suppose. Maybe it might be more accurate to say I'm a representation of the real one?"

Inoichi's expression didn't change. "You're unsure?"

The youth nodded. "Yeah, I mean I'm not exactly fake but I'm not real at the same time…I'm just an image of the one she holds in high regard would be the most accurate description probably." This peaked Inoichi's interest.

"What do you mean?" The young man made a puzzled expression.

"Well when she first got here I kind of formed I guess. I'm not entirely sure what caused me to be but a probable reason is she tends to think back a lot before appearing here." He smiled a bit sadly at that. Inoichi relaxed his posture slightly.

 _Interesting._ A possible answer to his current dilemma if he wasn't here to be a deterrent. If that was the case he was still getting some answers, one cannot lie in one's mind.

"So then you know of her origins, her home, family."

"Yes and no. I, well the real me I guess, but I'll just say me." He digressed for a little, a bit nervous and unsure again. "Well I only know her from the point we met, before that I don't." He backed away in fear as Inoichi gained an unimpressed look.

"L-Look I'm just saying what I know, it's not like I can actually know everything about why I exist. I've only come to be like this until recently and well…" He trailed off as he glanced up in fear at Inoichi.

'He's…weak. Wouldn't be much of a hassle to get rid of.'

"I see…then what is your purpose for appearing before me? You better not lie, because I'll know if you do." His scrutinizing gaze boring into the youth's expression.

"I thought maybe I could guide you to where you want to go? I mean since the only reason I can think of you're here is for some information?" The statements came out more like a questions as he was a nervous smile.

"How do I know this is not a trap then."

"Oh, it's not." He shook his head furiously as he waved his arms in front of him. The sight almost made Inoichi snort in amusement at how comical he appeared. "I think the saying that one cannot lie in the mind is true right?"

"That doesn't usually apply for things that are there to mislead or stop someone."

"…Fair enough." The youth sighed disheartedly, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Hm…well given that you got here somehow I have a feeling you have a way to get rid of me too."

He would have done so by now if this hadn't peaked his interest. This was a first he ever heard of this occurring…

"For a supposed figment of her mind, you are quite clever."

"Thank you. I think?" The youth seemed to relax a little. "Although there are some that would disagree with you. Oh well, given that's the case, how about this? I'll take you where you need to go, and if you find that's not true you may do to me as you see fit ne?"

Inoichi pondered for a moment, given the options he can roam around here for who knows how long and get chakra exhaustion or he could follow this mental figment and probably be misdirected. A quick disposal would lead him in the right direction but if this wasn't a lie it would yield him the results he wanted.

"…Very well. That's fair, however one wrong move." The youth once again looked at him fearfully, although not so much.

"Y-Yes sir. Thi-this way." The youth moved on ahead, and Inoichi gave a small smile in amusement. This reminded him of the way new genin would react upon recognizing who he was.

As they moved on in silence, Inoichi observed that the young man before him always moved in a cautious manner, and snuck glances in his direction with curiosity and less with fear. He raised an eye brow but didn't say anything. Instead he took to making note of all the turns they made, the houses the passed, some of the buildings hazed between those unfamiliar and places he's passed by in Konoha.

"…How curious. Do you know why that is?" Inoichi asked. "Moreover, what is your name?"

"Ah…" The representation faltered slightly. "Well…my guess it's because this whole place is what she sees as home. However, now that she's been here long enough and making new friends that she's starting to see this place like a home too. So aspects of Konoha are now intermingling, and more will as time passes by." He resumed walking. "It's only recently started happening I think."

"You are unsure about a lot of things it seems." Inoichi didn't forget that his other question wasn't answered. Before he could dig further the youth interrupted him.

"Well…" He began hesitant before coming to a stop in front of a rather large house, different from the rest. The house was coated in white paint, black roof tiles, large window frames, a front porch and a tidied wide garden, a neat concrete path leading to the front. The most important thing however, was that it wasn't hazy like the others he had seen. "Anyways we're here." He was given a nervous grin.

Inoichi gave him a scrutinizing gaze before heading inside. He would see quite soon if he was being lied to. As soon as he passed through the door, a sense of emptiness overcame him briefly. He frowned, as he silently admired the décor of the house, a few photos hanging on frames on the wall, warm brown wood lining the floor, peach colored walls, and well maintained furniture decorated the front entrance.

It appeared very welcoming and warm but at the same time it was empty. The youth behind him moved in front going more into the hallway, before stopping in front of a large brown door. "Here will be the answers you seek." His tone was dead serious, face expressionless, but faltering slightly as his lips twitched upwards in a hint of a smile causing Inoichi to scrutinize him for any signs of lies before scoffing, coming to a conclusion.

"Going for the monotonous, blank faced guide doesn't suit you kid." Said person deflated slightly, a pout threating to form on his face. "….mean…almo….born." The youth muttered something unintelligibly, which Inoichi ignored as he stepped through the door and another way of unpleasant emotions overcame him for a moment.

Ever since entering this home, there always was a sense of loss and sadness permeating through. Feelings from the child he had been tasked to observe, yet he had never noticed her express the sadness he was feeling now. From an outside glance, she was aloof, polite, dutiful towards her caretakes and adults, but due to that she never acted like an actual kid her age of laughing, playing around, being expressive. It was no wonder she appeared to get along with the Uchiha heir as he acted quite mature for his age but he still acted like a child from time to time. At least from the conversations he had overheard of the Uchiha head when talking about his son.

Glancing at the room around him, a room decorated with couches, a table, a rug, a small bookshelf filled with books, and the other shelves being larger and empty. Seeing that the only thing that could give him any information in the room were the books, he headed in that direction. The books didn't appear to have titles. He sighed. "This place is just made to be a pain to figure out." He muttered to himself, although he would admit it did give insight that the girl's mind was more complex than what one would think.

He grabbed a random book, a rather thin red covered one and opened it without much thought. However, upon having it opened a stronger wave of sadness coursed through his body, his surroundings fading until there was nothing but grey surrounding him.

He gritted his teeth. That thing had tricked him. He was about to close the book, it was one of the things that had remained but the sound of muffled voices stopped him. A grainy image, that was becoming clearer by the second appeared appeared before him.

Two large figures dressed in black, a woman and a man, seemed to be talking, voices grave as they spoke. Not down at him but upwards and then he realized what this was. It was a memory seen from her eyes.

"...loss. It was a tragic accident." The woman said as she kept her gaze, appearing apologetic. "Everything is being done as to what occurred."

" Thank you for your condolonces but please. Let us speak of this someplace else. Dear please set Yu-chan upstairs. Today has been too much for all of us but..." A man's voice spoke behind him, tired and gentle.

"Of course dear... Come Yu-chan, let's go get some rest dear." A gentle woman's voice spoke softly.

The image shifted as Yume turned to look at the woman speaking behind him, there was some resemblance between the woman and the child he knew. At this she began to be lead to a staircase. This he noticed resembled the house he was in, just a bit less furnished.

"...When are Kaa-san and Tou-san coming back?" A weak, soft child's voice said filled with hope but at the same time there was a feeling of dread washing over him. Her emotions once more.

The woman flinched a bit, giving a wan smile. "I...we'll talk later ok Yu-chan. Let's just go sleep for now ne? We'll- " The woman's voice trembled and he could see that she was trying to keep from crying and keeping a strong composure.

"No! I want Kaa-san and Tou-san!" Yume wailed and started struggling in the woman's grip, desperately crying out. "Kaa-san! Otou-san! I want!" She was throwing a fit, because deep down she already knew they weren't coming back. At this point he was starting to feel resistance, he was being blocked from seeing further. The last thing he saw before being pushed out was the woman speaking soothingly, voice becoming unintelligible again.

The space around him morphed back into the original room, with the young man sitting calmly in one of the couches. He was giving him a sad smile.

"So you picked that one first." Inoichi grunted, and gave the young man a nonplussed look.

"You were aware that would occur."

"I had a theory it would yes." His demeanor now was less cowardly, more assertive as he seemed to shift into business mode. "I haven't had the need to go through them as the real world me is already aware of these events having happened."

Inoichi paused, his greenblue eyes becoming steely. Enough beating around the bush. "Just who are you?"

"I already told-"

"No. I am aware of what you are but who's representation are you? Why would you form here? The only possible theories is that you are a trap, a defense mechanism, or something else."

"I'm family to her." Was the calm reply as a cup of coffee appeared out of thin air. "As for why I formed, I believe I already told you my theory. Though there is more to it. I am not aware of how exactly I came to be but…I do know she looks back way too much on her past that it's not healthy. That resulted in me being here to help sort things out and keep this fact in check. However, I don't expect to be here for too long, so I suppose in a way I am a defense mechanism."

"She appears fine to me." Inoichi once again didn't miss that he didn't answer his first question clearly.

"Hm…but you should know mister. Appearances can be deceiving." The young man gave an assessing gaze at Inoichi. Brown eyes, now a warm orange, and he felt that they were looking deeply into his soul. The blonde man frowned at this.

"I was tricked by you." Was the bland statement.

"Hm…somewhat. The way I was before was to cause you to be more relaxed with me. I doubt giving your nature you would trust me like this." He was right of course but Inoichi wasn't going to give that to the youth. Said youth sipped his coffee calmly. "However, that doesn't mean how I acted was a lie either. That side of me is how she first saw me as and how I acted. I just merely channeled that to the forefront when I approached you."

"Anyhow, now that you know I wasn't lying to you. Please take your time to find what you came for. However, do not expect to find pleasant things in some of those. Her emotions remain due to her repressing them. A fact that the real me hasn't had the time to tell her deal with yet." The cup of coffee disappeared as the man stood up.

Inoichi sighed. "You are quite mysterious. Does this mean that real you is just as mysterious and why you won't give up your name?" The man chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, eyes turning back from orange to brown. "Not quite. It's just that giving out my name easily is something that I was taught not to do. It was beaten into me quite literally."

"An important person then." He noted out loud as he scrutinized the young man's expression. "Hm…maybe Yume-chan will tell you all one day as to who I am. Once that happens I won't be so mysterious now will I?" He deflected once more, heading towards the door.

"Do not work yourself too hard mister." The moment he reached the door he disappeared, leaving Inoichi alone in the room. Inoichi sighed, for what seemed like the fifth time today, rubbing his temple. To take the words out of his friend's mouth once more. "Troublesome."

* * *

"This is all you found then." Hiruzen gazed at the report given by Inoichi. "No direct connection between her origins, how she came to be here and the attempted kidnapping. Ordinary childhood, civilian parents, her father possibly from wealth in her village. Of which you made note that it is likely hidden, but not of military in nature like ours, possibly it's location keeping them separate to the need of having protectors. Leading to their demise you expect. Those are just a few of the things you wrote down."

"Hai."

"Hm…That is comforting and the late Yondaime's assessment proved correct that she is no threat." The sandaime paused in his reading.

"You wish to take the child into your custody until she graduates the Academy. How unlike you Inoichi." Hiruzen gazed at the blonde haired man, face devoid of emotions. Inoich cleared his throat, as he began.

"As you have read Hokage-sama, while she is quite skilled and will no doubt graduate soon." He was very much aware of the need of such talent to join their forces as soon as possible. "She does not deal with her emotions in a manner healthy for her age, coupled with what occurred just a few hours ago, her mental state might not be capable of remaining stable at this rate. Even if she appears fine when she wakes, and can go through with training and spars in actual combat there is a chance she will freeze up due to possible trauma."

"So you wish to take her in simply to give counseling to a civilian child?" There was obvious disbelief hidden in the Hokage's voice.

"Not quite Hokage-sama, I simply wish to establish a connection now rather than later for when she will be ready to get help. As well as help her make strong stable connections towards us. As she is now, despite her young age, she is reluctant to form strong, trusting, bonds with others simply because she has lost many family members and is afraid of loss. Not to mention that she was likely sent away for her safety, the fact she appeared in Konoha was just a coincidence but doing so was painful. By repressing those memories seen, and emotions dealing with them. It also poses a detriment in forming trust between her and the village and how loyal she is willing to be to it. She has great talent enough to join our elite forces in the future…but..." He trailed off letting the implications speak for themselves. "There is also the added benefit that she'll be under our protection in case anything happens."

Hiruzen was solemn. "Indeed...loyalty is key." He closed his eyes. "Very well, upon being cleared she will be in your care until graduation." Which wasn't that far off of happening soon but it would be enough. For now.


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: For this chapter and the previous, I don't own KHR or Naruto, only my OCs**

When she opened her eyes, she thought she was dreaming again of Namimori. Only instead of being with her friends as they were in their last year at Namimori Middle, she was alone. Still, it was weird that she realized that she was in a dream, usually she would just go with the flow without much thought but right now…

"I'm very much conscious but I know I can't be here somehow. Is this…a lucid dream?" That was very plausible. A genjutsu was also possible but she couldn't feel a disturbance in the chakra in or outside her so that wasn't it. She furrowed her eyebrows in thought for a moment before smoothing her expression out, a content smile on her face.

Oh, what the hell, she would just enjoy this dream until she woke up. It'd be nice to be with her friends even if it was only a dream and she'd feel empty in the morning, However, for her that didn't matter. Not at all.

Turning her focus back to her surroundings she noticed that she was in a park. No, THE park where she first ever made contact with Tsunayoshi. A fond expression lit her face as she touched the cool surface of the red painted metal of the swings. Back then she would admit that she was pretty foolish in her way of thinking. She pushed others away because she mourned the loss of her parents, and she was jealous of the other kids too. They had their parents and to her appeared so happy. Deep down she hated that and them for having what she lost, but that was something she hadn't admitted to herself.

She couldn't, no she didn't, want to accept her reality so she essentially shut herself off. Going through the motions of living while not really caring about much. Bless her Aunt and Uncle for trying to help her and patiently dealing with how she was. However, eventually that anger, and hate faded and all that was left was loneliness. A loneliness that she had done to herself.

It was also during this time, where she had begun to see the changes in Tsunayoshi's life. He seemed to be less weak, lonely, a little bit more confident and happy. She had never made a move to help or befriend him before this. Only observing his actions and how he would cower when dealing with his bullies. A part of her had felt bad but always thought it wasn't her problem or place to deal with them. In fact, no one went to help him most of the time, except for Kyoko Sasagawa. Although, it was unknowingly most of the time, but she is genuinely nice, so it was no mystery of why she helped him out.

As she kept on observing him more during school, she had noticed oddities happening around and the all led back to Tsunayoshi. However, no one else appeared to notice these strange occurrences. This wasn't all she saw, she had been able to see him gain more confidence, friends, and happiness. Things she had been jealous of him getting that she didn't have, but this time she let go of that jealousy because it was through her own actions that led her to be isolated. She caused her own isolation from her classmates and it caused her to reflect of her own life until that point.

Yeah, her reflection might not have been as deep or as insightful as she can now, but it did cause her to realize that she had been in the wrong for a long time now. It wasn't the other kids' fault that she was alone, that she had lost her parents, that she wasn't liked and that her self-pity wasn't healthy. This led to a slow but steady growing longing and want to change. However, she didn't know how to approach her classmates or what she should do, always holding herself back in the end.

Yet, she had an opportunity here, in this park, to have a friend, to begin having friends, and moving forward with her life. She trailed her hand lightly over the chain metal of the swing as she sighed softly. Really, she owed Tsuna so much. 'Now...maybe I can...materialize err influence them into appearing?' The thought entered her mind but before she could even start a very familiar, cool, smooth tone spoke behind her.

"Yu-chan I wouldn't do that if I were you. You'd cause a big problem at the moment." She turned around in shock and she could feel herself choking up. Even though she knew the man before her wasn't real, it still felt like being by a ton of bricks as she started to tear up. Oh, how she missed seeing or hearing someone familiar.

The brunet man's expression panicked a little. "Ah Yu-chan don't cry. It's going to be ok, so don't cry." He put his hand on her shoulder, patting her in a comforting manner, while giving her a reassuring smile. A warmth bubbled in her chest as the tears continued to fall and she started laughing. She wiped her tears with her hands.

"I'm not crying, who even said I'm crying." She retorted causing the dream Tsuna to smile.

"Alright. Then I must have been seeing things then."

"Yeah, better get your eyesight checked."

He chuckled. "Will do." She gave a wobbly smile and then blinked in realization that she was in her original appearance, only wearing her normal business attire. She could tell because the top of head was just a few inches lower than Tsuna's and he had grown very well these past few years. A befuddlement colored her face.

"How…?" Well no, if she was in a dream it would be possible for this to happen. Before she could continue thinking about this further Tsuna spoke in a solemn tone, and she unconsciously straightened her posture, face blank.

"Well Yu-chan, I suppose I should explain before you start getting the wrong idea of what's going on and where we are." Confusion again littered her face. "Right now, we're inside your mind clearly. However, rather than this being a rather lucid dream we're in your mindscape, a reflection of your thoughts." He closed his warm colored eyes.

"This is a result of crossing dimensions, quite different from our own, which is why I, a reflection of the real Tsunayoshi's Dying Will Flame, as are the other's but only to a lesser extent."

"…So you're saying this isn't a dream and that this is very much real. Also, the other guardians are…also here or rather a projection of your flames." That…made somewhat sense and she was inclined to believe this – projection- of her Boss' flames. Logically speaking, she should think she was going insane, that this was a dream and she was just making things up. However, as focused more, she could feel the familiar hum of his Sky flame. Warm, accepting, encompassing. He wouldn't ever lie about something like this, therefore as a projection of his will neither would this Tsuna.

"Yes, as my guardian's you all share a connection through me with each, although to a lesser extent. Usually it's more of just being able to sense one another to an extent and would have remained more or less the same here with just being as added defense mechanisms against intruders. Or motivators in cases of emergency of your mind remaining stable. However," He opened his eyes again, filled with concern as he continued softly.

"You haven't been taking things well and ruminating too much on our world, of us. Rather than facing the fact in a much healthier manner, it's overwhelming your mind to the point of obsession."

"But…No…" She started to argue but kept choking, unable to make a coherent argument, when knowing it was true.

He shook his head. "You know it's true Yu-chan…"

She crumbled. "But…I just want to get home soon…I…I don't belong here Tsuna-kun…Boss, you know I don't…this isn't. I shouldn't even exist here. It's all I can think about…" _It's all I've been thinking about._

He gave a knowing smile. "I know Yu-chan, but right now that's out of your control and your showing that too much." A worried look appeared on his face.

"Just like earlier tonight, and apparently it caught the attention of those higher up. Which is why I even formed like this in first place. I'm the wisest choice to deal with this situation and…Mukuro as well." Her breath caught in her throat. That couldn't be, what had she given off…what did she do wrong. She never showed any sign of disloyalty towards the village. She panicked a little and before her panic could rise further he placed a hand on her shoulder and calmed down at the comforting presence.

"Calm down Yu-chan. It's been taken care of, like I said, we're like a defense against intruders. I believe it was one of the Yamanaka looking through your mind at the moment." But that would mean that he's going through her memories. He continued before she could voice her concern. "Right now, he's only seeing selective memories of what he wants to know, plus others that wouldn't show of who you really are. Of course, the fact that they're real memories means that they're not fabrications, but the other ones are hidden through Mukuro's. well his flame's representation, help.

"So…expect him to know about your ah, childhood a bit." He grimaced as Yume's face burned in anger instead of panic now. They were looking through her memories! How could they; who gave them the right?!

Indignation towards the village official's for ordering this bubbled as she tried to school her face back to normal. Tsuna sighed, in truth he wasn't happy about this either, but it couldn't be helped. "The good thing is that if this goes well, and it is, the cloud of doubt they have towards you will go away." Anger was still prevalent, but a calculating gleam appeared in her eyes. It wasn't long before she sighed, seeming to see that this was beneficial in the end towards what she wanted, but it still didn't mean she was happy about her breach of privacy.

"…I trust your judgement Boss." He gave a nod.

"Yes…and on that note. I'd prefer if this didn't happen again. We may be able to fool him this time but next time…" He trailed off and she sighed once more.

"…I may not be so lucky…"

"No…so…that's why for now I want you to stop focusing so much on us. Wait, wait just here me out first." He raised his arms in a placating manner as she began to argue.

"It's fine Yu-chan that you want to return soon, as quickly as possible. However, being too hasty causes mistakes, and those mistakes is what led you here. They know something isn't quite right about you, among other things but most are chalking it up to you being a prodigy or something of the like…if not a spy, or sleeper agent it seems."

"I didn't make a mistake…or at least I don't think I did…" Uncertainty littered her voice. She had gone through a lot of lengths to make sure she wasn't suspicious, did she fail?

He shook his head. "It's not that Yu-chan…not entirely anyways. You've done well but…the fact remains that you're an adult mentally. You don't act like how kids would and so the way you deal with others reflects that. I'm sure I don't have to say the rest, do I?" He questioned, but it was more like a statement as she understood what he was implying.

"What's the point of it? I'm leaving eventually plus it's not as if I should even be here."

"And that's where the problem lies Yu-chan." He gave her a sad look as she couldn't understand what he was getting at now.

"You are aware of those facts and act the way you do…because you fear getting close to people that you that you will have to leave behind. That something terrible might happen to them and you can't do anything about it because these are the risks that come with being a shinobi. You're afraid."

"That's not true! My job is just as dangerous as they are with you guys, but I don't feel like that! I know the risks and I accept it."

"Do you really?" He was calm as he gazed at her in a concerned manner.

"I-" She choked as she clenched her fists, as she questioned herself. "…I don't know…" Was her soft reply. It was silent for a long while as she kept looking at the floor.

"Well…" He cleared his throat putting a rest to the topic for now. "Since I don't particularly like seeing my guardians being in a precarious situation; you're going to have to compromise on certain things soon."

She stiffened as he spoke and, his voice taking on a deeper pitch, leaving no room for discussion. "First of all, Yu-chan, you will have to behave more genuine with all of your friends. Don't keep them at a distance, this will help your cover of being a normal girl. Well as normal as one can be in your situation anyways. Also, rather than focusing on the past or your goal whenever you can. You _will_ focus on the present and enjoy yourself. You understand what I'm getting at, so I don't need to explain."

She did, and quite frankly she didn't like it. However, all complaints were stuck in her throat whenever Tsuna spoke like that it meant serious business. And again, due to him being Tsuna's will in a way, she would follow his order's as if he was the real Tsuna.

Hell, she had even acted towards him as if he was the real deal.

The bright smile flashed at her in a way that made her feel warm. "Alright. I'm glad that's out of the way. You'll be waking soon so I was worried I wouldn't tell you all you needed to know or be aware of."

"But we didn't even get time to talk…or even…" A pang of loneliness coursed through her chest.

He chuckled. "Yu-chan time passes by differently here than outside, so even if it doesn't feel like it half a day has gone by now. Our Shinobi guest has left a long time ago too with no problems on your end or theirs."

"Will…will I see you again…or…" She trailed off. It was painful, yeah this wasn't the real Tsuna, but they were so much alike.

"Ah…Well, maybe not for quite a while. Doing this much has already been exhausting, so we may not manifest for who knows how long. Oh, but the other's might although…maybe not to the degree I can maybe."

"I see…" Resignation flashed on her face before she gave a nod. It's fine she's an adult she should start dealing with her problems like one, even if she'd rather not touch them with a ten feet pole.

"Till next time Yu-chan. It's time for you to wake up…have…fun…safe." As he spoke his voice began to get fainter and fainter as her vision also became fuzzy.

* * *

She opened her eyes slowly, blinking the sleepiness away as she sat up groggily with a soft groan. The soft, steady beeping of the heart monitor beside her was a heavy indication of where she was if the antiseptic smell wasn't already. 'Ugh. I hate hospitals.' Hospitals meant she was unable to do her duties, and that she had to remain in one place when she could be doing something productive.

Grumbling softly, she looked around her surrounding idly and found that it was the typical hospital type room, a bed, thin blanket, curtains, medical machines, a small white desk a door which led to a bathroom and white walls.

After noticing that she was alone she began to inspect herself. She pursed her lips as she noticed the wrapping around her right hand, and the way her body seemed to protest movements and overall exhaustion. A result no doubt from the fight she had, and the prior spar with Itachi. Was the answer she came up with rather slowly. She frowned a bit, for some reason her thought processes, seemed rather sluggish.

"Ah. Good morning little. Glad to see your awake!" A cheerful voice came from the entrance of the room, causing her to jump a little from the surprise. She made a face as her body seemed to object to her reaction. In front of her stood, a rather cheerful young nurse. Plain, brown haired, lightly tan, a regular looking civilian, who began to inspect her. Yume kept quite as this happened.

"Hm…well. Everything seems to be in order." She finished writing down on her clipboard, and she went to pat her on her head. Yume unconsciously tensed and moved back a little in panic before catching herself and stopped with a perturbed expression. This caused the nurse to look at her sympathetically and with pity.

"Oh right. Sorry, little one I forgot." She said as she scribbled something down on her clipboard again. Yume had an inkling as to what it might be, and she was not liking it one bit. She should be desensitized to these things. Yet why…

"I'll be letting the doctor know your awake, so he'll be here very soon okay sweetie?" Yume turned to look at the nurse with a blank look for a moment before turning back into herself in figuring out her problem. The nurse in turn gave her one last look of pity before exiting.

'Why am I like this? Apart from deaging and the change in physio-oh. I get it, even though I'm able to handle this mentally. My body hasn't really gone through it, and I'm probably going through some type of shock or coping.' How wonderful.

She sighed, as she laid back down, ignoring the discomfort. Nothing ever seemed to go right, but with what the Tsunayoshi in her mind – she might have to come up with a better way to refer him by - said, there was now a clear objective for her to follow.

Of course, it wasn't easy. She had been living like this for a good while now, so an abrupt change might be a cause for concern. Though with what happened it may not be so odd of a change. Food for thought. She hummed softly, as she waited for the doctor to come in.

* * *

"Yu-chan! How have you been? Better I see." An annoyingly familiar voice called out as an arm wrapped around her shoulder, causing her to tense a bit before relaxing, as she was pulled closer to said person. She kept her gaze on her book, something that she had requested, Kunai's and Swords, a fantasy like novel. It wasn't quite to her tastes, but it would do.

"Aww! Come on, Yu-chan don't ignore me! Is that how you treat your savior? Kids these days don't even know how to show respect to their elders." Without looking up she quipped.

"Elder? Where? All, I see is a snot-nosed brat."

She heard a mock gasp. "How dare you? See Itachi! See no respect at all." Shisui whined as he leaned against said boy. Yume rolled her eyes as she turned to look at them. "Then stop whining Shisui." Itachi said, he kept his focus on her, eyes filled a bit with guilt. He looked worried too, concerned as he stood there still.

Yume sighed, an act that she has been becoming common to her. "You know Itachi-kun. It wasn't your fault that day." Shisui became quite as he observed the two.

"I should have still."

"No. It wouldn't have made a difference. They would have approached one way or another I expect. Better it be me alone than with a clan heir. Besides, I already had a troubled feeling and I still went alone despite that. In the end, I have no one to blame but myself." Her reply was serious. Itachi still didn't appear to agree with her.

"So, in the end it's not your fault. I'll take this as a learning experience and move on from it. Nothing," She paused looking for the right word. "Irreversibly damaging happened to me." She continued and looked at the boy square in the eyes. Then frowned at how he still appeared to disagree, but didn't say anything, coming up with some type of resolution in his eyes.

She wanted to groan out loud. Of course, he'd be stubborn. "Hm…quite a mature way of handling things for a little chibi isn't it?" Shisui was next to her again and began poking her cheek and pulling at them. She glared at the older boy who grinned devilishly as she let him do as he liked.

What was it with these older kids and pinching her cheeks. Itachi merely shook his head as he sat down on the chair placed besides the bed. She honestly didn't know why they had that there, since she hardly received any visitors apart from the nurses and doctors. Machiko was busy with the orphanage, her senseis had no reason to visit her, and apart from these two and Izumi she didn't have other friends.

* * *

"Shisui I think she'll get more upset if you keep doing that." Itachi pointed out at the sour look she kept throwing his older cousin. This of course only caused said relative to smirk as he continued with a bit more force added. Which was his plan. Honestly, his friend was too stubborn for her own good, and didn't like others worrying about her. Itachi could practically feel her glare turn to him as she shot him a venomous look.

He smiled lightly.

"Why dear Ita-chan. It seems you're right but how can I resist. These cheeks are just so pinchable." If looks could kill both he and Shisui would be dead by now. Itachi laughed softly, causing Shisui to grin wider and finally let her go.

"So have they told you when you'll be out Yume-san?"

"No." She shrugged as she rubbed her poor abused cheeks with a huff. "I'm not sure when either."

"I see."

"Well that's boring Yu-chan. I'd have escaped by now. Being stuck here would drive me up the walls…literally." He grinned as she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but unlike someone I'm a reasonable adult. Therefore, I will be pa- Why are you laughing?" She stopped as Shisui started laughing as she spoke.

"I- I am sorry but adult?" His cousin said in clear amusement, trying to hold down his laughter. "Sorry, chibi-chan but you're way too far off to be an adult anytime soon." He ruffled her hair.

"Whatever." Was her muttered reply as she acquiesced reluctantly to having her hair mussed. Itachi in the meantime had watched the two interact and had silently noticed that she was behaving a bit differently than before. He couldn't quite pin point it yet, but he was glad that she seemed to be doing fine, minus the brief moments where she tensed when touched without warning.

The two then started to banter for a while as Itachi took to remaining on the sideline, offering a small quip to either one when he had the chance. During this time, he didn't notice that time seemed to pass by quickly and soon they would need to get home. They had arrived when classes had ended today, and he had only found out until yesterday evening what happened.

Shisui had been quite secretive about what occurred, but Itachi had remained stubborn in getting his answers after not seeing his friend for the past few days. That had been odd, and not even her teacher really knew what happened or where she was, only that she would be out for a few days. Not to mention Shisui became a bit sullen when he had mentioned not seeing her to him. Which was unlike him, and that was how he knew that Shisui knew something.

He had been worried. Worried that he would see her become more reserved and refuse to be anywhere near them, him, as friends anymore. He knew it was irrational, but he couldn't help it. He'd hate to lose a precious friend.

"Oh. We must go now Itachi. Mikoto-basan wouldn't be happy if I kept you out too late."

"Oh. Right. I'll see you next time Yu-san." He bowed a bit. "Get better soon."

"Yeah, get better Chibi. I'll be back tomorrow with Itachi maybe." Shisui grinned as he grabbed Itachi and both disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

* * *

Yume stared at the amount of leaves left on the floor and she rolled her eyes again. "Stupid ninja."

A low chuckle filled the room, causing her to jump slightly, tensing and causing irritation to rise. She really needed to stop doing that. She turned to look at the source of the chuckle and saw an ash blonde, pupil-less blue eyed, shinobi stood in the doorway. He wore a fore head protector that pushed up the spiky hair on top more, with a ponytail, and had the standard flak jacket, and uniform that most shinobi wore.

Point being, he wasn't a doctor or a medical staff.

"That's not a nice thing to say to a future colleague given that you'll soon be like us 'stupid ninja'." He said warmly, causing her to blush a bit at being caught.

She cleared her throat, schooling her expressions. "Was there something you needed…sir?" She looked at him warily, based on his appearance he was either one of the Yamanaka descent or someone like them. Also, it was disconcerting, how she hadn't been able to sense him at all.

"Yes and no. I'm Yamanaka Inoichi, head of the Yamanka clan, and will be taking over your guardianship until you graduate. I came to give you an early notice of your change in accommodations, as you still need to be here for a few more days." She was surprised and then she furrowed her eyebrows.

Okay. What? What the hell is going on? Why is she suddenly becoming a ward to a freaking shinobi clan! They don't offer this thing willy-nilly unless they are part of the clan somehow or they genuinely wish to adopt. Which doesn't happen that often as clans don't like accepting outsiders into their folds and learning clan secrets.

"As expected your surprised and confused right. Well, this was done under the order of Hokage-sama after the incident that happened. We can offer you protection as well as help you with ah…any issues that might have arisen from said incident."

'Yeah, but that doesn't exactly mean that I'm somehow important to warrant protection. As far as they are concerned my origins are of civilian descent what could- Oh! Right. I'm a 'prodigy' under their eyes. I'm valuable.' She thought before making a face. 'Also, issues? What issues I'm fine, and nothing some desensitization won't help fix.' She'd allow physical contact with Izumi and Shisui, that way she can stop tensing all the time when touched. That should help fix the problem.

Her displeasure must have been evident as the older man continued. "Of course, this is only until you graduate and even then, it may be best to remain with us for a short while longer. After that, what you do will be your decision."

"I see…" It would be nice to not have to worry about being kidnapped after having to move out on her own, the backing of a clan would be nice safety net. Although, the fact that this clan focused on psychological aspects wasn't something she would be pleased about. She'd have to be careful on not letting anything slip until she could safely manage on her own.

"Then…thank you for your hospitality Yamanaka-sama." She bowed her head respectfully. She'll use anything to her advantage, but she'll be doing as her boss ordered as well.

* * *

"Ah...yes. I'll send someone over to pick you up in a few days. They'll be escorting you to my home." He had honestly been expecting some resistance but as her file stated she was more mature in some respects. He had seen her deliberate on the pro's and cons of going along with the already made decision. It wasn't as if she could refuse but everything would go along smoother if she cooperated.

Despite knowing what the child had seen and gone through, looking at her eyes was disconcerting, and he could see why now. There was none of that child naivety in them, nor the sparkle children had as they looked at the world around them. No, instead there seemed to be a sort of other worldly aspect to them, seeing more than what a child should, cautious and yet undeniably human. It reminded him of the eyes of the orphans who had witnessed destruction and death before their eyes and survived, only not quite either.

Still that was to be expected, he supposed. The child had a strong sense of will and determination, and he could very well see that it could border self-destructive if it wasn't curbed before then. Children were impressionable after all.

He continued observing her intently as he pondered. Speaking of children, she seemed to do reasonably well with the much children in her orphanage and spent time helping around. Even if the same didn't apply regarding children in the academy. That being said, she could help Tsubaki with Ino while staying with them. A relief to his wife.

"Also…I have a baby girl, so I expect you to help my wife while you're there as well. Consider it one of the responsibilities you'll need to do while you remain with us. I'll explain the rest of them for you when you get situated at my home."

"I understand Yamanaka-sama."

"There's no need to go that far in formalities, Inoichi-san will do while you remain with us." He gave her a reassuring smile. Best to start letting her get comfortable around them sooner.

"Very well…Inoichi-san."

* * *

Yume sighed as she stared at the flower shop a Yamanaka clan member had dropped her off at. After that she had stayed still looking up at the entrance. For some reason the building appeared to be more imposing than it should be. She was wearing new set of clothes, a dark brown shirt and light tan shorts, a welcome gift sent by Inoichi. They were much more form fitting than the slightly loose clothing she had bought for herself. Rather than a welcome gift, it appeared more to her that he thought her wardrobe needed an overhaul.

Of which, she would begrudgingly admit was true, only reluctant because she was the one to choose her close in the practicality of saving money. Haru would be so horrified at her recent lack of self-care, her hair had been washed and cleaned of blood when she had been unconscious and the fact that it was a lot tamer after that said just how far she had let herself go.

Figuring she had stayed outside long enough just standing there thinking, she walked forward and entered, the bell at the door jiggling merrily as it opened.

"Hello, how may I help you today?" A kind greeting was given to her as she entered by a pretty looking woman, with brown hair and brown eyes, no pupil in sight either. She wore an apron tied over a dress of a lovely shade of dark green.

"Ah…I'm here…that is to say I was brought here as Yamanaka-sama's new ward, Miss." A flash of recognition lighted the woman's eyes before she smiled some more.

"Oh, so you're the kid Inoichi spoke about. That husband of mine didn't tell me what time you would arrive dear, so I wasn't expecting you yet." She shook her head fondly as she mentioned her husband.

"Your room has been set up, it's near Ino-chan's. Ah speaking of Ino, she's sleeping right now so please be as quiet as possible while you get familiar with your new room alright?" Yume began to feel uncomfortable as the woman spoke so kindly to her, while seeming to radiate a motherly aura.

"Oh right. Forgive my manners, I'm Yamanaka Tsubaki, but you can refer to me with Tsubaki-san or obasan whichever is much more comfortable alright?" She smiled some more as she clapped her hands once. "Now, let's get you situated with your room follow me. It's best to get this done before any customers arrive. Ah, and when you're done come down and help me with the shop okay?"

"Ah, hai." She paused for a moment before speaking, processing what was being told to her. She followed the older woman as she led the way upstairs to a room beside an open door leading to a nursery room.

"Now remember, be as quiet as you can while up here. Also, I must apologize for the size, but it was mostly a storage room until we knew you were going to stay. So we don't have anything other than the basic furniture's and a blanket or pillow. Your stuff is already in boxes. We thought it'd be best if you set up your things to your liking." All this was said in a hushed but clear voice.

"Um…thank you again Tsubaki-san. I apologize for any trouble." Tsubaki smiled and shook her head.

"Don't worry about it Yume-chan. As your guardians it's our responsibility to take care of you." The tinkling of the bell rang up the stairs. "Seems like a customer has arrived. I'll be heading down now, if you need anything let me know alright?"

"Thank you, Tsubaki-san." She bowed thankfully as the woman left, leaving her to stand in front of the door in thought. The woman was clearly nice and genuine and was trying to make things as comfortable to her as much as possible. A kind gesture but it really made her feel more uncomfortable. She hadn't been used to other people, outside of a few, that were as kind and hospitable as Tsubaki-san was towards a stranger.

It made her feel like an inconvenience, but she'd have to deal with it for now. Of course, being in a new environment with undoubtedly excellent shinobi around didn't help either. She was able to sense chakra normally again, something that been dampened at the hospital for some reason, and could feel that she had her own silent observers ever since she left said building. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet and would keep it that way until it became a problem.

If anything, they were probably ANBU or some sort of guards that were of the Yamanaka clan that ensured the safety of their own. Especially, if the clan head had a baby daughter and wife now. Probably.

Humming softly, she opened the door to the room, Tsubaki hadn't been kidding when she said they had only gotten the basic, but it was fine. A bed, a desk, two drawers and a wardrobe were all she needed while she remained there. No need to buy too much for a person that would only be there for a short part of their lives.

Glancing at the boxes she set off to work, organizing her limited number of personal items to the way she liked. She would admit, having her own room again did feel nice.

* * *

Dinner that evening was a bit awkward once it began. Inoichi had explained to her what she was expected to do outside training, school and studying. She was supposed to help with the shop (already got a head start on that), help take care of Ino (so I'm basically a free babysitter then), house chores, and an errand boy- er girl for Tsubaki whenever she requested something.

She didn't mind it so had agreed without any complaints, it was fair after all. She would work since they were basically letting live with them for free without paying any bills. After that explanation dinner was set out. It was clear to her that the man was tired from his work but loved his family dearly. Evident with how he treated his wife and child indulgently. They tried to get her, well it was mostly Tsubaki who did, to join in the conversation but she merely smiled, and gave small replies while she sat their awkwardly. It was a bit surreal being surrounded with a family after so long.

A wave of nostalgia filled her eyes, but she quickly brought herself out, only to see that baby Ino was gazing at her curiously for who knows how long. The child hadn't noticed her since Inoichi had taken all her attention upon waking up and holding her.

It was clear to her she would be the apple to his eyes, and that had caused her to smile a bit. Her father had also been like that with her. At least, the fuzzy memories of that time seemed indicate it at least.

Still now she was face to face with a child who seemed to have taken interest in her. Now this could go in a few ways either a) she gets ignored b) the child doesn't like a stranger around and starts bawling her eyes out or c) she's happy to get to know a new person.

Thankfully Ino choice option c and pointed at her in question.

"Tou, kaa…who?"

"That's Yume-chan dear, she'll be your new friend." Tsubaki replied. Ino's eyes sparkled as she turned back to look at Yume happily.

"Me-me fwein!" This caused Inoichi to chuckle, gazing at his daughter happily. "Me-me fwien!" Ino cried out again and this caused Yume to give the girl a smile in return.

In all honesty, she didn't really have a choice in the matter, but it couldn't be helped. She had a feeling Inoichi and Tsubaki would be very disappointed if she made their daughter cry. And as her hosts the least she could do is return the favor and cause as little inconvenience as possible.

"Hello there Ino-chan." She said causing the younger girl to laugh happily and started to babble while being fed by Tsubaki. After that dinner was less awkward, as Yume nodded and listened to the little girl talk until she tired herself out in her father's arms.

After that, Yume helped with clearing up the dinner table and kitchen as Tsubaki headed out to spend time with her husband after putting Ino in the crib. Leaving Yume alone again, humming to herself, as she dried her hands on a towel.

The following days would follow the same routine of pleasant but short interactions as she once again resumed attending the academy.

* * *

 **M:Okay! I'm done with 2/5 chapters that I promised but I won't be able to keep that promise. Which doesn't sit well with me but I'll post these two chapters since finals are around soon, and these were the only ones I was able to complete since the rest of the time I need to study. That is when I'm not drawing to relax a little, as much as I enjoy writing and work on From the Sky to the Leaves, since once I start I can't stop and I can't do that right now. Especially since I find BioChem really difficult and physics as well. (Mind you I struggle with those) That being said I'm also taking courses the first half of summer so I doubt I'll be posting up much then either.**

 **Of course, I'll still be drawing (for fun) and brainstorming ideas but I won't be able to fully write them down for this story. It's best I be honest on this.**

 **Still, this is the end of the academy arc basically so I had that finished. As well as an explanation of what I had in mind this time for how things were with her mindscape. I hope you liked it, and I'll end up editing the previous chapters after finals I expect. Again sorry for not completing what I had said but when I can I'll upload the rest when I finish them.**

 **Reccomendation:**

Through the Spy Glass

By: Katsura369

Sakura's back in her world, however she hasn't forgotten the people she met in the other. Especially given what she unexpectedly received as constant reminder(s) of a certain ambitious dungeon capturer she fell in love with. They say that secrets always find a way of coming out-no matter where they are hidden. Does that include in another world? An unraveling like no other.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Adventure/Romance - Sasuke U., Sakura H., Sinbad

I really liked the first book to this sequel. I'm not a big fan of Sakura but that's mostly due to how she was written, so when I actually stumble across ones where she's written quite well I read it. Of course that's my opinion, but if you want to check it out, read the first one too!


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